Beijing Capital International Airport 北京首都国际机场

About Beijing Capital International Airport

Its most distinctive building is Terminal 3, opened for the 2008 Olympics and designed by a team including Foster + Partners. The complex separates a main terminal from satellite concourses, so the terminal and concourse on a boarding pass matter as much as the airport name. This is primarily a transport stop: architecture is a bonus during a flight connection, while baggage, immigration and the onward rail or road journey determine the practical visit.

Capital Airport opened on 1 March 1958 as the first civil airport built after the founding of the People's Republic and the fourth airport in Chinese history to offer international flights. Its first terminal, a Soviet-style building of 10,138 square meters, opened later that year, on 1 October 1958; before Terminal 1 was built it was mainly used for VIP passengers and chartered flights, and it later served as Air China's headquarters until 2008.

Facing rising demand and, after the Sino-American rapprochement and Richard Nixon's 1972 visit, growing international traffic, the airport underwent a second expansion approved in 1973, adding an international terminal, a new west runway, and an aircraft maintenance base. The 3,200-meter west runway was built between 1974 and 1978, after which the east runway was extended by 600 meters and brought into use on 1 January 1982; a hangar able to hold a Boeing 707 was completed in 1977.

Because the site chosen for the airport lay in what was then Hebei province's Shunyi County, the land became an exclave of Beijing surrounded by Hebei; it remained administratively part of Chaoyang District even after Shunyi itself was transferred to Beijing, so Terminals 1 and 2 sit on a Chaoyang exclave while Terminal 3, built later, stands on Shunyi district land.

At the airport

• Terminal 3's expansive main hall and long-span airport architecture, when your journey uses that terminal.
• The relationship between T3's main terminal and satellite concourses, connected by the airport's internal passenger system.

Location & getting there

Getting to Beijing Capital International Airport

Use airport code PEK and the terminal stated by your airline; do not select Beijing Daxing (PKX) when planning the transfer.

• The Capital Airport Express serves Terminals 2 and 3 and connects with the urban network at Dongzhimen and Sanyuanqiao. Follow the airport's signs for your own terminal.