Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport

Thanks to China’s latest “sponge airport,” the coastal city of Qingdao is now set to enjoy a tremendous tourism boost as the new Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport approaches its well-anticipated opening date.

Located in Jiaodong, Jiaozhou roughly 39 kilometers away from the city center of Qingdao, the Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport is set to replace the existing Qingdao Liuting International Airport as the main airport of the city. Upon operations, this will be the city’s first 4F-class airport – featuring a 450,000-sqm terminal building paired with two runways spanning at 3,600 meters, all within a total lot area of 3,066 hectares. Its massive area runs twice the size of Heathrow Airport in London, which measures 1,227 hectares. This means that the airport will be big enough to accommodate A380s, Boeing 787s, and even the world’s largest commercial aircraft. By 2025, its two runways are also expected to accommodate 500,000 metric tons of cargo, 35 million passengers, and almost 300,000 takeoffs and landings – emerging as the new transportation hub of Northeast Asia.

A prominent starfish-shaped form that radiates into five connected concourses serves as the project’s key design takeaway. Not only does its starfish form minimize walking distances between its farthest gates and the main check-in hall to less than 550 meters, but it also serves as an architectural icon that symbolizes the city’s progress.

Another notable feature of the Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport that visually distinguishes it from a new, similarly-looking Beijing Daxing International Airport, is its ultra-thin, stainless steel roof with a mere thickness of 0.5 millimeters – the same thickness as a piece of A4 paper. Aside from its paper-thin thickness, its 223,000-sqm roof takes pride as the largest of its kind in the world, based on state media reports.

With a focus on environmentalism and sustainability, the Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport can also store and absorb excess rainwater that can be both reused and recycled just as needed. Its rainwater-innovating feature led to its unique nickname as the “sponge airport.”

Although construction of the airport has been fully completed since mid-2020, its official opening date has yet to be announced. Featuring green water treatment systems wrapped into a defining, starfish-shaped form, the Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport signifies a major tourism boost that the city of Qingdao will soon anticipate.