Chicago, Beijing Airport Officials Meet, Discuss Air Service, Sustainability and Other Topics

 

Commissioner Andolino and Matthew Danaher, CDA Director of Airline and Industry Relations, met with Dr. Dong Zhiyi, CAH president and CEO; Yao Yabo, vice general manager of CAH and executive president of Beijing New Airport Construction Headquarters; Liu Zengya, vice president, Beijing Capital International Airport Co., Ltd. (BCIA); Luming Mei, Deputy General Manager of CAH's International Affairs Department; and Angela Zhao of the CAH International Affairs Department.

 

The group discussed air service between their two respective cities; ways to expand the Sister Airport agreement between the two airports; ideas to promote and encourage sustainable practices at airports and the Beijing airport's participation in the 2012 Airports Going Green conference in Chicago, which is hosted annually by the Chicago Department of Aviation and the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE). Dates for the conference will be announced soon.

 

Beijing and Chicago sign a Sister Airport agreement in 2011.

Beijing, with a population of more than 19 million people, was the world's second busiest airport in 2011 based on passenger traffic with 77.4 million passengers for the year, according to Airports Council International (ACI) statistics. O'Hare was ranked fourth with nearly 67 million passengers last year. The CDA and Beijing signed a Memorandum of Understanding to become Sister Airports in March 2011, which set up a process for the airports to share technical, commercial and environmental best practices and established groups to work cooperatively on a range of topics including airport management, construction, planning, operations, information technology and sustainable development.

 

Commissioner Andolino was in China last week to discuss business and economic opportunities with international aviation leaders and to further Mayor Rahm Emanuel's agenda to expand and strengthen Chicago's position as a global transportation center.

 

The Chicago Department of Aviation routinely hosts Chinese aviation and government officials to discuss airport operations, sustainability at airports and other important topics. In recent years, delegations to Chicago have included the China Airport Construction Corporation (CACC) twice in 2011; a delegation of the China Civil Aviation Report in August 2011; the CAH in January 2011; HNA Group, which operates 13 airports in China, at Midway International Airport in September 2010; Beijing Capital International Airport Co. (BCIA) in Chicago in 2009 and 2010; and members of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) along with airport leaders from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzen, Yunna and Xi'an in 2009. Chicago has three Sister Airports in China -- Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.