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China Southern Airlines
is to airlift four massive check-in counters inside its Boeing 747-400 from Liege, Belgium for installation in the new Baiyun
International Airport currently under construction in Southern China.
The first of the four counters is being flown this week to the current Baiyun
International Airport in Guangzhou and flat-bed trucked 22 kilometers northeast of the current city airport to the new construction site.
When completed, the new Baiyun International Airport - home base for China
Southern Airlines - is expected to handle up to 25 Million passengers in its
first year of operation.
The total project, built by NKI Group
in The Netherlands, consists of four complete "canopy domestic" styled check-in
counters with each counter 32 meters long and seven meters high with a total weight of 39,000 kgs. The
NKI constructed counters will be permanently mounted in the new airport's central ticket area which spans a mammoth
45,000 square meters. For air transportation to China, NKI engineers have dismantled each counter into 13 cages including two extreme long
sections.
The first section is 16.16 x 1.25 x 1.52 meters with a total weight of 17,000 kgs
and the second is 12.95 x 1.25 x 1.33 meters with a total weight of 15,000
kgs. Each section will require a massive crane to load and unload it into China
Southern Airlines' 747-400 cargo aircraft.
The design of the new Baiyun International Airport was recognized as one of
the best architecture designs in the United States for Year 2000 by the AIA -
The American Institute of Architects.
One of the most innovative design concepts of the new airport will be an
International-standard convention center, 500 - 800 room hotel and exhibition
center, all inside the airport terminal area.
The new Baiyun International Airport is located some 22 kilometers from the
current city airport and as Guangzhou residents come to the new Baiyun International Airport
they will arrive either via a high-speed Metro (currently under construction) or an ultra-modern,
three lane freeway which is already open for use.
The ground floor will house additional commercial space and the lowest
level, linked by elevator and escalator, will be the entrance to the Metro to
downtown Guangzhou. |
