Beijing’s brand new Daxing mega-airport is still whirring into life after its grand opening at the end of September. Today marks a big milestone, as the airport’s first international flight takes to the skies.

In September, the world watched as China opened the colossal Beijing Daxing International Airport. As the largest single-structure airport terminal in the world, Daxing is a true marvel of human engineering.

As expected with an airport this size, it takes a while to get everything up and running. From the opening ceremony on 25 September, and the arrival of the first commercial flight the following day, it’s taken just over a month for the airport to see its first international flight departure.

The historic first international flight from Beijing Daxing International Airport will be operated by Air China, ending up in Bangkok. This is perhaps a little odd, considering the fact that China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines will make up most of the airport’s capacity. Air China, on the other hand, will operate a much smaller number of flights.

According to reports by Euronews, Daxing will also be celebrating the departure of its first transcontinental flight – a British Airways service to London.

China’s aviation plans for the future

Beijing Daxing International Airport is representative of China’s wider commitment to becoming a key player in international air travel. With an ever-increasing need for international business connections and an economy which continues to grow, Daxing will be very important for Beijing in years to come.

The airport is around 50 km south of the Chinese capital and will be able to handle 75 million passengers per year by 2025. Earlier this year, China revealed its plans to build 200 new airports across the country within the next 15 years.

With a 2035 target of 450 airports, China is looking to almost double its current total of 234 airports. When you consider China has a population of 1.3 billion, 450 airports across the country doesn’t sound quite so excessive.

China’s airlines

China has a number of large airlines with extensive route networks across Asia and the rest of the world. The three biggest players are the three state-owned airlines – Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines.

Together they are ideally placed to take advantage of the huge number of potential air passengers within China. Not only can they capitalize on domestic routes, but they can also offer foreign passenger flights across Asia.

The newly-constructed Beijing Daxing International Airport offers Chinese airlines a regional hub capable of handling many tens-of-millions of passengers per year. From Daxing they can offer competitive flights to and from destinations all across Asia, giving them a distinct advantage over foreign competitors.

If China hits its target of 450 airports across the country by 2035, Chinese airlines will be even better positioned to profit from commercial air traffic.

Unfortunately, Air China was not available to respond to Simple Flying’s request for comment on the milestone Daxing to Bangkok flight.