Beijing new massive terminal 3 opens today crossing off another major milestone in Beijing’s preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Here are some statistics on the new airport:

- built at a cost of around $2.8 billion

- built by 50,000 workers over a period of 4 years

- capacity increased from 35 million to 85 million passengers making it one of the world’s five busiest airports

- 20 per cent bigger than all five terminals combined at London’s Heathrow Airport

- designed by British architect Lord Norman Foster

- will be able to handle the new Airbus A380 superjumbo jets

- the terminal covers 10.6 million square feet. The Pentagon in comparison is 6.5 million square feet