Plans for the city's second airport have been officially announced.

The airport will be constructed in Baiguo, Jintang, near the city of Jianyang.

Every year an estimated 19 million passengers pass through Chengdu's Shuangliu Airport, pushing the single-runway airport to its capacity. Due to its central location, the Shuangliu Airport cannot be expanded.

The new airport is expected to surpass Shuangliu as the city's primary air-transit hub with six runways and the capacity to shuttle 80 million passengers annually.

Located 55 kilometers from Tianfu Guangchang, the new airport will be connected to the city center by light-rail train as well as highway.

Although the airport has been on the city's agenda for two years, progress has been held up by a long debate as to the where the airport should be located.

Concurrently, Shuangliu Airport is investing RMB12.7 billion into constructing a second runway that can accommodate the Airbus 380, currently the largest aircraft. Construction is expected to be completed next year.