Global e-commerce consumption is exploding and inducing a dramatic expansion of air cargo facilities around the world. China’s adoption of the “One Belt One Road” strategy, has added to the confidence level of this huge expansion. SAAN was invited to participate in an international design competition for a greenfield airport being planned at a location about one hour’s drive from Wuhan, which sits next to a major bent on the Yangtze River, suited for multimodal exchange and connection.

This airport will be one of the world’s largest cargo airports. It will be anchored by China’s largest cargo airline, with an estimated annual cargo throughput of about 6 million metric tonnes by 2045. The main air cargo hub for this airport will become one of the world’s largest super-hubs.

Learning from the world’s successful cargo airports and super-sized sortation facilities such as SDF’s Worldport and MEM’s Superhub, we concluded that scalability is important in organizing cargo logistics, phasing, designing apron footprint, and laying out cargo aircraft parking positions.

We also used simulation to determine the best possible structure for taxiways, connector roads, and other functional flows. Our final design is a simplified but ultimate solution for maximum flexibility, easy phasing, fluid landside connection, and high-speed sortation.