The Baiyun airport in Guangzhou on Thursday officially put into operation its Terminal 3 and fifth runway, making it China's first civil airport to operate five commercial runways.

The expansion of the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, one of the country's three major international aviation hubs, is another step towards building a world-class airport cluster in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.

In the near future, the airport will be able to handle 120 million passengers and 3.8 million tonnes of cargo and mail.

With a terminal capacity of 140 million passengers and six million tonnes of cargo, it will be among the world's busiest airports in both categories.

The expansion project took five years and cost 53.77 billion yuan. It also includes an integrated transport center designed to improve air, rail and road connectivity.

The transport hub will be connected to six high-speed rail lines, five intercity railways, two metro lines and two expressways. Passengers will be able to reach other major airports in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area within an hour using the rail network.

The Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, released in February 2019, proposes the construction of a world-class airport cluster.

The region's aviation landscape now comprises three hub airports (Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong), two major airports (Zhuhai and Macau), and two regional airports (Huizhou and Foshan). These airports collectively serve more than 200 global destinations and handled, in 2024, over 200 million passengers. (Xinhua)