China Southern Airlines 'Heavy Lifting' key airport components to new terminal

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.