Construction of Guangzhou's third runway complete

The 3,800 meter-long, 5 billion yuan ($816 million) third runway at Guangzhou airport has been completed and is being prepared for testing.

The capital of Guangdong province is the third city on the Chinese mainland, after Beijing and Shanghai, to have three runways. The new facility can accommodate the giant Airbus A380 airliner.

A fourth runway is planned, and studies for the project are already underway. The long-term plan is to have five runways, said Yu Hongcai, head of the engineering and construction command at Guangdong Airport Management Corp.

Passenger throughput at the airport is expected to exceed 55 million this year, up from 52.45 million last year, Yu said.