Flights from Daxing airport on sale

Tickets are generally less expensive than at Capital, industry observers say

Tickets are now available for flights at Beijing Daxing International Airport, which is scheduled to begin operations before Sept 30.

On various travel websites, passengers can book tickets from the new airport to many domestic destinations such as Shanghai, Xiamen in Fujian province, Guangzhou in Guangdong province, Chengdu in Sichuan province and Kunming in Yunnan province.

Compared to the flights departing from Beijing Capital International Airport, which is located in the northeastern part of the city, the prices at the new airport are generally cheaper, industry observers said.

Flights to Guangzhou from Daxing airport, for instance, cost less than 1,300 yuan ($185) for economy class while the lowest price at the Capital airport is nearly 1,800 yuan.

Before the winter season starts in November, domestic flights will be carried out solely by China United Airlines, a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Eastern, which is also the first airline to transfer its operations to Daxing airport from its current headquarters at Beijing Nanyuan Airport, the company said.

So far, most of the booked trips will be made during the weeklong National Day holiday from Oct 1 to 7, according to the company.

The airline will operate over 130 flights daily from the new airport, which will serve a network of over 80 routes and 70 domestic destinations.

Over 20 international routes operated by Finn Air, British Airways, Polish Airlines and Malaysia Airlines can also be booked, including flights to London; Helsinki; Casablanca, Morocco; Fukuoka, Japan; and Kathmandu, Nepal, according to travel website Qunar.

Huang Lei, who works for an investment management firm in Beijing and lives near the South Third Ring Road in Daxing district, has long been looking forward to the opening of the phoenix-shaped airport.

"I used to be very frustrated when traveling by air since I need to spend over 1.5 hours on the subway to get to the Capital airport. But once the Daxing airport is in operation, it will be cut to 40 minutes," he said.

"I have bought tickets to my hometown Guangzhou from the new airport for the National Day holiday, and I'm thrilled to explore the cutting-edge technologies and the interesting design of the terminal," he added.

The new airport, constructed to meet China's surging air service demand and take the pressure off Beijing Capital International Airport, will serve as the second international airport for Beijing.

With four runways, 268 parking bays and a vast terminal building covering 700,000 square meters, the new airport is expected to handle 45 million passengers a year by 2021 and 72 million by 2025.