FROM THE PUBLISHER
Saluting a modern-day wonder and standing with China
Welcome to this edition of the Moodie Davitt Spotlight Series dedicated to the extraordinary new Daxing International Airport.
When we first conceived this project in late November 2019, following my attendance at the inauguration of China Duty Free Group’s splendid new stores at Daxing, China travel retail – like the world at large – was a very different place.
Business was booming in the aviation and travel retail sectors, with 2019 a record year for outbound Chinese travel and Daxing standing proud as an iconic representative of a golden age of aviation in the country. That was then. This is now. Just three months on and China is only beginning to show signs of emerging from one of the great crises in its modern-day history.
Last December’s outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), an initially undiagnosed mystery virus in Wuhan, the sprawling capital of Central China’s Hubei Province, has changed everything.
Over the next two months, Chinese outbound travel slumped, and with it the retail spend at the nation’s airports and numerous overseas counterparts plummeted.
But as we complete this special edition, the situation has improved dramatically in China. By 17 March there was only one new confirmed cases in Hubei Province (in Wuhan, the original epicentre of the outbreak) and by 19 March none at all. The centre of the global crisis has shifted west.
That neither means China’s trouble are over nor that recovery will be immediate. But the Chinese people and leaders have always thought in the long term. Better days and many of them lie ahead.
All the dynamics that underpinned the relentless rise of Chinese outbound and domestic travel – and travel retail shopping – through the first two decades of this century remain in place. A thirst for discovery, for international experience, and for international brands at preferential prices, remains unsated.
To support that post-Covid-19 travel boom, Chinese aviation needs quality infrastructure and that is what this eZine is all about. Daxing International is the world’s biggest airport in size and one of its busiest in passenger traffic. Beijing’s new mega-hub will handle up to 45 million passengers by 2021 and 100 million in the future.
Let’s put those numbers in perspective, starting with size. Daxing has four runways (eventually seven) and an initial 79 airplane stands, while its vast terminal building straddles some 700,000sq m. Its ground transportation centre extends a further 80,000sq m. From the air, Daxing’s multi-pronged wings make it look like a giant starfish, which has indeed become its nickname.
The Chinese government has invested some US$17.5 billion in this modern-day wonder of the architectural and aviation worlds. Its master plan, assigned to NACO (Netherlands Airport Consultants), was developed with environmental protection top of mind. Simplicity and sustainability were key tenets.
The airport’s design is so ground-breaking that despite the building’s size, no gate involves more than an eight-minute walk. To avoid congestion, arrivals and departures each occupy two separate floors. In the future, a second South Terminal will be added. There’s culture and heritage aplenty, too. Five gardens adorn the end of each departure corridor, each inspired by Chinese traditions, culture and history, as denoted in their themes: Silk Garden, Tea Garden, Porcelain Garden, Countryside Garden and Chinese Garden.
Sustainability? For sure. The construction and design approach were underpinned by a commitment to the environment and a focus on eco principles. Walk into the airport and you’ll bathe in natural light, thus minimising the need for artificial lighting during the day-time. The terminal’s heating and cooling are based on geothermal energy and photovoltaic cells are used extensively to provide much of the airport’s total power needs. The car park building is completely power efficient while Daxing collects and uses rainwater to cover some of its operational demands.
This special publication captures the splendour and ambition of this extraordinary facility with a particular emphasis on the retail and food & beverage components. Because the original planned February publication date coincided with the height of the COVID-19 crisis in China, we felt it inappropriate either to publish such a celebratory eZine or to accept advertising revenues.
Eventually we decided to delay publication and to donate all revenues to one of the Wuhan hospitals in the frontline of the courageous fight to beat this disease. The chosen institution, at the recommendation of China Duty Free Group, was Union Hospital Tongji Medical College Huazhong University of Science and Technology (Union Hospital).
Following the outbreak, Union Hospital became one of the first designated hospitals in Wuhan to treat patients. Even in the days leading up to this eZine’s publication, the hospital was in urgent need of support to battle the disease, with critical shortages of items such as goggles, medical and surgical masks, medical caps, protective clothing, surgical gowns, impact-proof eye masks and various disinfectants.
This special publication captures the splendour and ambition of this extraordinary facility with a particular emphasis on the retail and food & beverage components. Because the original planned February publication date coincided with the height of the COVID-19 crisis in China, we felt it inappropriate either to publish such a celebratory eZine or to accept advertising revenues.
Eventually we decided to delay publication and to donate all revenues to one of the Wuhan hospitals in the frontline of the courageous fight to beat this disease. The chosen institution, at the recommendation of China Duty Free Group, was Union Hospital Tongji Medical College Huazhong University of Science and Technology (Union Hospital).
Following the outbreak, Union Hospital became one of the first designated hospitals in Wuhan to treat patients. Even in the days leading up to this eZine’s publication, the hospital was in urgent need of support to battle the disease, with critical shortages of items such as goggles, medical and surgical masks, medical caps, protective clothing, surgical gowns, impact-proof eye masks and various disinfectants.
The people of Wuhan have been through almost unspeakable hardship over recent weeks. The frontline medical team who have led the human war against this disease have shown extraordinary courage and commitment. Many have contracted the illness. Some have died. This video, courtesy of Chinese state-controlled media Global Times, shows the thunderous welcome that many of those medics received when they left the city, with the outbreak increasingly under control. It offers an enduring testament to the power of the human spirit and the courage of the medical community on whom our lives depend all around the world.
Funds were thus remitted in advance by The Moodie Davitt Report, even before being received from our generous advertising partners. We thank each of them – Pernod Ricard Global Travel Retail, China Duty Free Group, Treasury Wine Estates, The Estée Lauder Companies and La Prairie. As well as making its own cash donation, The Moodie Davitt Report has absorbed all costs of this publication to ensure that all monies were remitted to Union Hospital.
Our dilemma then became when to publish. Then the moment presented itself. For this week marks the first time since the outbreak began that zero cases have been reported in Hubei Province, a wonderful landmark for the Chinese people, who have demonstrated so much courage and resilience. It’s rare to publish a title that fulfils two such roles – helping an urgent national crisis while celebrating that same nation’s golden future. We are proud to have found such a formula – and to have stood with China.
– Martin Moodie, Chairman, The Moodie Davitt Report
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Spotlight Series
March 2020
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