A second airport will be built in Beijing before 2010, the General Administration of Civil Aviation said yesterday.

The plan for a second airfield was included in the national civil airport development plan, which covers the years up to 2020. Under the plan, the number of airports nationwide will rise to around 190 by 2010, including 55 for both civilian and military purposes.

The location of the second Beijing airport, which will be for domestic flights, has not been decided, CAAC said. However, CAAC said that it would probably be in the southern part of the capital.

Data from CAAC showed that last year, 148 airports on the Chinese mainland handled 387.59 million passengers and 8.61 million tons of cargo and mail, up 16.8 percent and 14.3 percent year on year respectively.

Beijing Capital International Airport, the country's largest and busiest, handled 53.47 million passengers last year, putting it among the world's 10 busiest.

Its new Terminal 3, a major expansion project undertaken in preparation for an anticipated surge in passengers during the Olympic Games, which will be held in August, had its first commercial flight after it opened on February 29.(source:xinhua)