This Is Now the World s Largest Airport

Beijing travelers are due for an upgrade, and some new Jetson’s-esque technology. On Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping officially inaugurated Beijing Daxing International Airport, located about 40 kilometers south of the country’s capital. The opening comes a week before celebrations for China’s 70th anniversary, though some commercial travelers have already tested out the airport, which has been operating in a limited capacity for several days. After almost five years of construction, the $63 billion facility features a 7.5 million square foot terminal and sits on 18 square miles of land, making it the world’s largest airport. The airport was designed by the Pritzker-winning architect Zaha Hadid—who died in 2016—and is meant to resemble a phoenix, though it is more often described as a starfish or a hand.