becoming the largest airport in western China by 2030. Jiangbei Airport has been outlined ambitious growth plans, competing with Chengdu Airport, Kunming Airport, Wuhan Airport and Xi'an Airport to be recognized as the nation's fourth largest aviation hub (after those hubs in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou). Jiangbei Airport was reported to have reached the fastest growth rates since 2011, according to CAPA's Airport Traffic Benchmark Tool. On 1 November 2015, the annual passengers at Jiangbei Airport exceeded 30 million for the first time. Airport expansion The expansion project Phase III, which included a second runway and an additional Terminal, T2, started construction in 2007 and completed in 2010. Major elements of the construction were adding a second runway of 3,200 meters (which was later lengthened to 3,600 meters to satisfy the landings and takeoffs of Boeing 747 and the demands of Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.) to the east of the existing runway, building a parallel taxiway in between the two runways, and setting up a visual aid lighting support system. It also added a second terminal building (T2) with an area of 86,000 square meters, 41 apron aircraft parking stands, and a freight station and support facilities occupying an area of . It cost CNY3.3 billion (US$538 million). On 22 December 2010, the second runway was commissioned, which made Jiangbei Airport the fourth airport in mainland China to operate two runways, one exclusively for departures and the other exclusively for arrivals. The most recent expansion - Phase IV (dubbed the Eastern Expansion) - of Jiangbei Airport has been the biggest and contains the construction of a third runway and a new terminal, T3A, being 530,000 square meters, more than double the size of the existing terminals (T1 and T2A/T2B) combined, costing CNY26.0 billion (US$4.1 billion). Most of T3A’s construction work was completed by the end of 2016. The terminal was inaugurated in August 2017, after which the airport has more than 725,000 square meters of terminal floor space, ranking Jiangbei Airport among China's 15 largest airports with an annual passenger capacity of 60 million and an annual cargo capacity of 2 million tons. Half of the terminal (concourses G & H) is for international flights from major cities in South East Asia, East Asia, Middle East, Africa, Europe, and North America. After the completion of expansion Phase IV, Jiangbei Airport became the fourth airport in Greater China (inc. Hong Kong,