Beijing Airport opens new section for passengers

Beijing Capital Airport will open its long-closed Section D in Terminal 3 (T3-D) on April 18 to handle domestic flights and cope with increased passenger flow, the airport announced on April 16.

Section D will handle some domestic flights operated by Air China. The move will create 14 landing spots for domestic flights, offer passengers access to airport resources, and make their stay easier and more enjoyable.

Section D in Terminal 3 was briefly used during the 2008 Beijing Olympics and has since remained closed.

It covers 30,650 square meters and has four floors. Passengers will arrive on the third floor, which offers restaurants and a rest lounge, and depart on the second floor, which has shops and various facilities for passenger services. Security check and transfer areas are on the first floor and an automated train that connects sections C, D and E is on the first floor underground.

Terminal 3 consists of Section C (domestic flights), Section D (some of Air China’s domestic flights), and Section E (International/Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan flights).

In addition to boarding pass instructions, passengers can follow different colors to find the right boarding gate. Blue leads to T3-C, green for T3-D, and yellow for T3-E. At present, the airport has set up clear signs to show the direction of boarding sections and their colors.

The Departure Hall of Terminal 3 has a built-in self-help entry system with 12 passageways. Passengers only need to swipe their boarding pass face up on the scanner to get through. If the entry system’s warning goes off, passengers need to check if it’s the right boarding gate or seek help from airport staff.

After passing the self-help entry system, passengers can take an automated “mini-train” (with two coaches) to T3-C, T3-D or T3-E.

Passengers can tell where they are through the train’s broadcast and LED screen. The LED screen will give a dynamic readout of the distance between stations to ensure passengers don’t miss them.

The broadcast features Chinese, English, Korean, Japanese and Russian. In addition, service personnel are standing by at train stations for immediate response to passengers’ needs.

A service staff answers a passenger's inquiries at train stations.