Etihad Airways has launched its first flight to Beijing Daxing International Airport (PKX), the second international airport in the Chinese capital, on March 28, 2023.
The flight marks the airline’s transition of its services from Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) to PKX airport.
Etihad’s first PKX flight was operated on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, with registration A6-BLO.
The airline said that it will make use of PKX airport’s location and connectivity with Beijing West Rail Station to explore air-rail modality, where the airline’s customers can be provided air and rail transport in one ticket.
Etihad has had a successful partnership with AccessRail in Europe, providing customers with convenient air-rail transport through a single connecting ticket.
“With China’s reopening and the restart of the aviation and tourism industries, we are very glad to see the long overdue move of our scheduled services to Beijing Daxing International Airport, which will further strengthen our commitment to the country’s aviation market development and Chinese travelers,” Arik De, chief revenue officer of Etihad Airways said in a statement.
“The integrated transportation facilities at Beijing Daxing International Airport will give Etihad Airways access to a huge catchment area around Beijing West Rail Station. We will be working closely with local partners to transfer Etihad’s rich experience in Europe working with intermodal rail service operators to Daxing to allow greater choice at a competitive fare on a single connecting ticket through air-rail modality,” De further said.
“Abu Dhabi Airports Company signed an MoU to build a sister-airport relationship with Beijing Daxing International Airport in 2019, which strengthened the capital-to-capital link. Etihad Airways is one of the first airlines in the Middle East to move to Beijing Daxing International Airport, and we congratulate them on this successful inaugural flight from Abu Dhabi to Beijing Daxing International Airport,” Wang Yaqi, general manager of Aviation Business at Beijing Daxing International Airport said in the same statement.
Nicknamed ‘The Starfish’ because of the way its terminals are laid out, Beijing Daxing International Airport was opened in September 2019. It was designed by Zaha Hadid Architects.
The airport’s terminal building covers 700,000 square meters. It claims to be the biggest airport in the world. At the time of publication, Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd International Airport (DMM) is officially recognized as the largest airport in the world in terms of land area.