The Dalian Jinzhou Bay International Airport is being built on Jinzhou Bay as China’s first airport constructed on an artificial island in marine waters. Spanning about 7.7 square miles, the project has already become a focal point of global interest even before a passenger boards a flight.

What makes this airport remarkable is not just its size, but its purpose: easing pressure on a densely populated coastal city and proving that a fully functional international airport can operate on a man-made island in the sea.

Dalian’s existing airport is located too close to the city center, creating long-standing challenges such as traffic congestion, noise pollution, limited airspace, and a lack of room for expansion. The new offshore airport is designed to solve all of these structural constraints by shifting major aviation operations away from the mainland.

The first phase includes two runways and a Terminal 1 building, with capacity planned for around 43 million passengers annually and roughly 330,000 aircraft movements per year.

In the long term, the airport will expand to four runways and a massive terminal covering nearly 9.7 million square feet, with projected capacity rising to 80 million passengers annually.

The estimated cost of the project stands at around $7.5 billion. According to construction updates, roughly 37% of the first phase has already been completed, with around 3,500 workers actively involved in offshore development.

Engineering requirements are equally extreme: airport pillars are being installed 82 feet below sea level, while the artificial island will require approximately 56 million cubic yards of material to complete.

If construction continues on schedule, operations are expected to begin around 2035. The site will also include environmental planning, including the planting of around 850 trees on the artificial island.

More than just an airport, the project reflects China’s broader ambition to reshape infrastructure limits and redefine how large-scale aviation hubs can be built in the future.