I had a very smooth experience. I got through check in, immigrations and customs very quickly. Everything had a nice new shine to it.

Contrast this to the absolute chaos at the opening of Heathrow Terminal 5. Beijing Capital Airport has also recently opened a new terminal. Then I realised it would be interesting to compare them.

	Tianjin Binhai Airport	Beijing Terminal 3	Heathrow Terminal 5
Passenger capacity	10 million passengers per year.	60 million passengers per year by 2020 (whole airport)	30 million passengers per year.
Area	116,000 square meters	986,000 square meters	465,000 square meters
Shopping area	2 shops in the international departures area.	45,200 square metres commercial area	18,580 square metres, which is about 150 retail units.
Aircraft spaces	40	66	60
Public transportation	Number 113 bus	Buses and subway line extension	Tube, buses, trains, bikes
Public consultation time	Less than a second	Dunno	525 days
Build time	Seemingly overnight	47 months	66 months
Cost	Some money	Some more money	£4.3 billion
Taxi fare	£5	£30 from Tianjin (I know a guy)	Are you mad? (or rich)
Bags lost	0	0	Enough to build terminal 6
Architecture	Nice	Huge	Masterpiece

I guess it would be unfair to compare the airports. Beijing Airport is massive but it needs to be in order to serve millions of Olympic visitors. Tianjin’s new airport was a smaller project on the outskirts of the city. Heathrow is blessed with one of the worst possible locations for an airport and locals who are unfortunate enough to be harassed by the daily noise.

In time, Heathrow Terminal 5 will become a good and efficient terminal, and in time Beijing and Tianjin will need to build yet another airport to cope with its growth. If you think I am kidding, an article from The Economist claims that Beijing is already planning a second airport.

But it would be nice if Britain’s construction projects were not not a laughing stock.