Shenzhen airport's new terminal enjoys relatively smooth first day

The arrival of Shenzhen airport's new Italian-designed terminal enjoyed a smooth take-off yesterday, but hit some turbulence when several passengers complained of missed flights and gate mix-ups.

Though authorities said it had been a smooth transfer from the old terminals at Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport, many passengers reported some glaring problems, with some complaining about the quality of service and the staff's unfamiliarity with the system.

Costing 8.5 billion yuan (HK$10.7 billion), the new terminal is designed to handle 45 million passengers a year by 2020, a 55 per cent increase from last year.

Many passengers were impressed by the terminal design, whose shape is inspired by a manta ray. The new terminal, a creation of Italian husband-and-wife architects Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas, covers 450,000 square metres, about triple the size of the city's former terminals.

"When you look up, you see thousands of hexagonal skylight windows. They bring natural light everywhere into the building," said Wendy Xu, a Shanghai resident on a business trip to Shenzhen. "The design is very impressive, clean, bright and modern. But it's a nightmare for those with trypophobia [the fear of clusters of holes] if you look at the countless hexagonal skylight windows one by one."

Soon after opening at 6am, thousands of excited passengers filed into the airport, eager to take photos of the aerodynamic design.