Construction work began on a new airport in the city of Beijing, on Dec 26, in the Daxing district, which holds the Economic Technological Development Area, or E-town, and which will turn into an aircraft industrial center.

The terminal will be in the shape of a hexagonal star and will border two district towns and the city of Langfang, Hebei province, with the first phase having a passenger handling capacity of 72 million by the year 2025, a freight capacity of 2-million tons, and the ability to handle 620,000 taking-offs and landings.

The new airport will be similar to Beijing's current Capital International Airport, as a large international aviation hub. According to the National Development and Reform Commission, the project will be completed by 2019 and cost about 80 billion yuan ($13 billion). Over the next 20 years, it is expected to bring around 8.6 trillion yuan in revenues, lifting Beijing's GDP 1 - 2 percentage points, contributing a lot to the capital's southern part, a relatively backward area, and narrowing the gap between it and the rest of the capital.

The district government has been in touch with aviation industry companies discussing future business ties and has already signed deals with China Eastern, China Southern, China United, and China Postal Airlines and Air China, which, with various support industries, and the surrounding area, will form an airport industrial center.

The 13 neighboring villages will be removed by March of this year, and actual construction work on the terminal will start in September.