Xian Airport opens new terminal building with strong focus on retail growth

Xian Airport is representative of a new breed of airport terminal recently or currently being developed across China. Xian Airport's new Terminal 3 is being constructed with the dual purpose of preparing for a massive increase in air travel demand, while also having a strong focus on developing non-aeronautical/retail revenues.

China's seventh largest airport by capacity, Xian Xianyang International Airport, officially opened its 230,000 sqm terminal three (T3) building and 3800m second runway on 03-May-2012, increasing the airport's capacity to 33 million p/a. The airport, a growing western China airport hub, handled 21 million passengers in 2011, making it the country's eighth largest airport by passenger numbers, although it ranks much lower in terms of China's largest international gateways.

With a growth rate of around 18%, Xi'an was the third fastest growing major airport in China (airports with more than 10 million annual pax) behind only the smaller Shijiazhuang and Shenyang airports. Growth is expected to continue at the airport, which is one of eight in China with annual passenger numbers of more than 20 million in 2011.