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Each of the more than 3,000 pillars sinks more than 80 meters to the rock, three times more than at an airport on solid ground, and 187 million cubic meters of landfill have already been moved. When completed, it will surpass Hong Kong and Japan’s Kansai and become the largest in the world built on a man-made island.
China is building in the middle of the sea an artificial island of about 20 square kilometers to construct the largest offshore airport on the planet, the Dalian Jinzhouwan. The project, budgeted at around US$ 4.3 billion, is being anchored on more than 3,000 pillars driven into the rock beneath the ocean, in Jinzhou Bay, in the Bohai Sea, about 4.5 kilometers off the coast of the city of Dalian, in Liaoning province, and is expected to be fully operational by 2035.
When completed, the airport will surpass in area two giants also built on landfills in the sea, the Hong Kong International Airport and Kansai Airport in Japan, becoming the largest in the world built on an artificial island. China’s response to the lack of space on land was direct and bold: as there was no more where to expand, the country decided to create its own land, gaining from the sea the necessary area for one of the most ambitious engineering projects of today.
Why China built an airport over the sea
The need for the new airport arose from the exhaustion of the current one, Dalian Zhoushuizi, built about a century ago during the period when the region was under Japanese occupation. After several expansions over the decades, it reached its operational limit: it operates with a single runway, is surrounded by mountains and urban areas, and has no more physical space to grow, which limits the city’s development.
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Besides the lack of space, there is the issue of safety. According to the project’s chief engineer, Li Xiang, the location of the old airport, in a valley surrounded by mountains, makes navigation difficult for pilots, especially in adverse weather conditions, increasing risks. In light of this, and the growth of Dalian as a trade hub with Japan and South Korea, China decided to build from scratch, in open sea, a structure capable of absorbing future demand.
The size and cost of the largest offshore airport
The project’s numbers are impressive. The artificial island, with about 20 to 21 square kilometers reclaimed from the sea, is larger than Hong Kong Airport’s, about 12.5 square kilometers, and Kansai’s, approximately 10.5 square kilometers. The total investment is estimated at 26.3 billion yuan, equivalent to about $4.3 billion, placing the venture among the largest individual bets in global air infrastructure.
It is worth noting that the construction of the island was not a linear process. Land reclamation began around 2011, but the project stalled at the landfill phase from 2016, and the airport, originally scheduled to open in 2018, had its timeline revised to 2035. Even so, the progress is monumental: as of the latest information, more than 187 million cubic meters of landfill material had already been moved to form the island in the Bohai Sea.
The engineering of anchoring an airport in the ocean
Building over the sea imposes challenges that do not exist in land-based projects. Chief engineer Li Xiang described the geological conditions of the seabed as extraordinarily complex, requiring unparalleled precision in the foundation. The solution adopted illustrates the problem faced by Chinese engineers to ensure the stability of the structure on the ocean’s unstable ground.
The airport’s base features more than 3,000 pillars, or piles, driven directly into the solid rock beneath the sea. Each can be up to 1.6 meters in diameter and more than 80 meters long, a depth about three times greater than that used in land-based airports. In the reclaimed areas, deep cementation was also carried out to stabilize the soil, ensuring that the island supports the weight of the runways, terminals, and aircraft.
What will be the airport’s capacity
In the final configuration, Dalian Jinzhouwan will have four runways and a terminal of 900,000 square meters, with a designed capacity for 80 million passengers and 1 million tons of cargo per year, in addition to about 540,000 annual air operations. These are the consolidated numbers that consistently appear in the project’s official communications and the international press.
Regarding the first phase, the numbers vary depending on the source, and therefore should be treated with some caution. Some publications mention an initial terminal of 400,000 square meters with two runways and a capacity for 43 million passengers, while other sources cite 31 million passengers and 650,000 tons of cargo in this initial stage. In any case, even the initial phase will already represent a huge leap compared to the current airport, which has handled about 20 million passengers in recent years.
Dalian Airport in the Context of Chinese Aviation
Dalian Jinzhouwan is not an isolated case, but part of a larger strategy by China to become the largest aviation market in the world, surpassing the United States. The country currently has more than 260 airports in operation and dozens under construction, with billion-dollar investments, and estimates that it will need about 450 airports by 2035 to handle the growing demand for air travel.
The project will also be the first airport in mainland China built entirely on an offshore artificial island. More than just a terminal, the complex is planned to house logistics parks and research areas, and is expected to boost the redevelopment of Dalian’s waterfront, with new train lines, subways, and elevated highways connecting the airport to the city center, transforming the region into an integrated hub of transportation and innovation.
The Risks of an Airport on an Artificial Island
Despite its grandeur, an airport on an artificial island at sea brings concerns that deserve to be considered, in the name of balance. Such structures can be more vulnerable to natural disasters, like storms, typhoons, and even rising sea levels over the coming decades, factors that require robust designs and constant monitoring to ensure the safety of operations.
There is also the long-term challenge of dealing with settlement, that is, the gradual sinking of reclaimed land, a problem faced by similar airports like Kansai in Japan, which sank more than expected over the years. These are issues that China’s engineering will have to manage continuously, showing that conquering land from the sea is an impressive feat, but one that demands permanent vigilance once completed.
The Dalian Jinzhouwan Airport is a symbol of China’s ambition in infrastructure and how the country tackles physical limits by creating unprecedented solutions, in this case, manufacturing an entire island in the ocean. If it meets the schedule and opens in 2035, it will be the largest offshore airport on the planet and a landmark of global engineering. More than a colossal work, the project points to a path that other megacities without space may end up following in the coming decades.
Would you board a flight from an airport built on an artificial island in the middle of the sea? Do you think it’s worth facing the risks and costs of such ambitious projects like this one in China? Leave your comment, tell us what you think about this type of engineering megaproject, and share the article with those interested in aviation, infrastructure, and innovation.
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