Development cost:

19.8 billion yuan

Area: 1,456 hectares

Capacity: 80 million passengers a year

Anticipated annual passenger throughput: 16 million on opening, 25 million by 2010, 80 million by 2040.

Anticipated annual cargo throughput: 590,000 tonnes on opening, one million tonnes by 2010, 2.5 million tonnes by 2030.

Runways: In phase one, two runways of 3,800 and 3,600 metres, a total of five runways by end of phase 2.

Ground breaking: In 2000

Design companies: US Parsons, URS Greiner, and the Guangdong Provincial Architectural Design Institute.