engineering is not the only challenge

China has lifted the Three Gorges Dam, has linked Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macau through bridgesan underwater tunnel and artificial islands, and has taken the Qinghai-Tibet railway to more than 5,000 meters of altitude. The country’s engineering has accumulated works on a scale that is difficult to ignore over the last few decades. The following project fits perfectly into that trajectory: a gigantic airport that is built on reclaimed landr. However, when we look beyond the artificial island, we discover that the challenge is no longer solely technical.

To find this work we have to travel to Dalian, a port city in northeastern China where the future is built. Dalian Jinzhouwan International Airport. The complex will occupy a 20.1 km² artificial island built in Jinzhou Bay, about three kilometers from the mainland. The image can make you think of a project that is much more advanced than it really is. The airport continues under construction, although the progress recorded in 2026 shows how some of its main elements are beginning to emerge on the ground.

The first phase allows us to understand the scale that the project pursues. The approved plans contemplate a 500,000 m² terminala northern runway of 3,600 meters and a southern runway of 3,400, in addition to the necessary facilities for cargo, maintenance and airport operations. The design has been sized to serve in 2035 up to 43 million passengers550,000 tons of cargo and mail and about 330,000 aircraft movements per year. These are capacities planned for the future, not current activity figures: this entire system will first have to be built and put into service.

Having the island is not equivalent to having the airport

The last major documented physical milestone came at the end of May. The underground structures of the terminal core and breakwaters C and E they were finishedwhich allowed the work to be extended to the parts that will be raised above the surface. Around the same time, authorities approved the second preliminary design and budget package, which covers the airfield, cargo area, maintenance and various service networks. There are two relevant advances: one is already beginning to be visible and the other allows the execution of the pending components to be ordered.

The latest official figures allow us to qualify this feeling of progress. The report from the end of May stated in 58% the deep treatment of the soil and in 84% foundation piles of the terminal and the access viaduct. The preloading of the areas where the two runways will be built was also completed. What does this mean? It means that the soil recovered from the sea has been subjected to a compression and stabilization process, not that the runways have already been built. Much of the airport infrastructure has yet to be built on that basis.

The twist appeared on June 11, during a meeting of the group in charge of coordinating the new airport and its economic zone. Local authorities highlighted the progress made, but recognized that the project still faces difficulties, challenges and blockage points that must be resolved. The message does not describe a paralyzed work or confirm specific delays, but it does break with the image of a frictionless execution. The meeting established among its priorities to maintain the 2026 calendar, accelerate complementary projects and resolve the points that still hinder progress.

As the airport gains height, some essential preliminary and complementary works for the complex remain open. Dalian City Council asked to complete the pending expropriation and relocation workin addition to accelerating access infrastructure and ensuring that associated works advance alongside the main complex. The statement does not specify how many lands, homes or actions are affected. It does confirm, however, that future infrastructure continues to depend on interventions that go far beyond the island itself.

The second area under surveillance is financial and administrative. The authorities want to expand financing avenues and ensure that the funds allocated to the project arrive sufficiently and on time. They have also ordered to monitor costs throughout the process, strengthen control over tenders and reduce the risks associated with contracting. The information suggests that several essential elements still require closer monitoring.

None of these fronts work in isolation, and there will be the real test for the project. For now, official sources continue to show work in progress and have not reported a stoppage or general delay. The most specific official forecast, published by Liaoning Department of Transportation in January 2024placed the completion of the construction and the entry into service in 2028. The next work will allow us to see if Dalian manages to maintain it while resolving the difficulties recognized by its own authorities.

Images | Liaoning People’s Government

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