China is building an airport in the middle of the sea and it is spectacular

China is adding another gem to its list of air transport infrastructure, the world's largest airport on an artificial island.

Currently under construction on the country's northeastern coast, Dalian's Jinzhou Bay International Airport will be located on a 20-square-kilometer island and have four runways and a 900,000-square-meter passenger terminal, according to an airport statement.

Its operators aim to handle 80 million passengers a year through 540,000 flights, with the first phase expected to open in 2035, writes A2 CNN. "The country's largest airport at sea is slowly rising from sea level like the sunrise in the east," said a post from Jinzhou Bay International Airport on the Chinese social media platform WeChat.

When completed, it will become the world's largest airport on an artificial island, surpassing Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) and Japan's Kansai Airport (KIX).

“There have been major challenges for the construction,” Li Xiang, chief engineer of the Dalian Airport Construction and Development Company, told local state media in October, “as the project has complex geological conditions, high drilling difficulties and high requirements for quality, with a tight deadline."

Dalian, a city of 7.5 million people, has long been a transportation hub due to its proximity to Japan and South Korea.

New airports are a key part of China's aviation growth. The country is on track to overtake the United States and become the world's largest air travel market. Beijing's second airport, Daxing (PKX), opened with much fanfare on October 1, 2019, the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. At the time, Chinese officials said the country would need 450 airports by 2035 to meet demand. (A2 Televizion)