HAIKOU /China/, December 2. /TASS/. The Meilan International Airport in Haikou (South Hainan province) officially opened it’s second terminal on Thursday, according to the Hainan International Communications Network reported.
The area of the new terminal is nearly 300 thousand square meters. It was designed by a joint effort of Chinese and foreign companies. The architects have integrated many elements of Hainan culture into its design. With the help of various cunningly placed decorative elements, which create images of waves, beaches and landscapes, the central hall of the terminal looks like a tropical island.
The terminal is designed in a way, which ensures that there is no more than a five minute walking distance from the passenger security check to the farthest boarding gate in the clear zone. The terminal is equipped with 110 check-in counters, automatic check-in and baggage drop-off counters, as well as the most advanced equipment, including facial recognition technology, which will speed up the passenger service process. It is also equipped with all necessary transportation infrastructure, as well as a parking lot for 3,700 cars on an area of approximately 170,000 square meters.
The expansion of the Meilan Airport playes an important role in the creation of Haina’s free trade port, since air transport takes on the bulk of passenger and cargo traffic. New runways with a total length of 3.6 kilometers were built, as well as a second terminal ss part of the second phase of the airport expansion project. A total of 17.8 billion yuan (about $2.7 billion) was invested in the construction of the new infrastructure.
The new infrastructure will allow to increase the total annual passenger traffic up to 45 million people, and the volume of cargo up to 600 thousand tons. There are also plans to increase international passenger traffic from 8 million to 10 million people annually.