The third-phase expansion project of Xi'an Xianyang International Airport has earned the Zhan Tianyou Award, the highest honor for scientific and technological innovation in China's civil engineering sector. The accolade was presented at the 21st awards ceremony held recently in Chengdu, recognizing the project's outstanding engineering quality, industry-leading technical achievements, and comprehensive construction management capabilities.

As a nationally approved commendation program established by the Party Central Committee and the State Council, the award is presented once every three years. It is widely known for its exceptionally high application thresholds, rigorous review standards, and limited number of winners, making it a key benchmark for evaluating construction quality, innovation levels, and exemplary value in domestic civil engineering. The Xi'an Xianyang airport project stood out among numerous major engineering initiatives nationwide, earning authoritative recognition for its construction results and highlighting the superior quality, innovative strength, and industry-leading demonstration value of this super aviation hub in northwest China.

The Phase III expansion of Xi'an Xianyang Airport is a key infrastructure project under the nation's 14th Five-Year Plan and a flagship demonstration project for civil aviation designated by the Civil Aviation Administration of China. It also serves as the top priority aviation development initiative for Shaanxi Province, backed by both the provincial party committee and the provincial government. With a total budget of approximately 46.929 billion yuan, it represents the largest-scale, highest-standard, and most broadly beneficial infrastructure undertaking in the history of civil aviation development in northwest China.

Positioned as the core aviation hub for the northwest region, an international aviation gateway for the Belt and Road Initiative, and a comprehensive pivot for inland two-way opening-up, the project carries the critical mission of optimizing the national civil aviation hub layout, enhancing the northwest's integrated three-dimensional transportation network, and facilitating the smooth flow of domestic and international economic cycles. It holds strategic and fundamental significance for deepening the national western development strategy, jointly building the air Silk Road, and elevating the openness level of the northwest region.

Since the project became operational, it has fundamentally reshaped the aviation hub landscape in northwest China, strengthening Xi'an airport's position as the leading regional hub. It has established a new air transport structure connecting Central Asia, reaching across Eurasia, and providing nationwide coverage, positioning the airport as a core aviation engine for Shaanxi's efforts to build a highland for inland reform and opening-up and to empower high-quality regional development.

The project features grand construction scale, advanced design concepts, and stringent quality standards. In terms of refined architectural quality, the project maintained high-quality construction benchmarks throughout, overcoming a series of industry challenges such as construction of super-large irregular spatial structures, deformation control of ultra-long concrete isolation structures, integrated layout of complex electromechanical systems, and precise management of construction during continuous airport operations. Through meticulous construction techniques, full-process quality control systems, and comprehensive safety management mechanisms, the project achieved zero major quality risks and zero safety accidents during construction, with structural stability, building durability, and spatial safety all reaching the highest standards among super-large domestic airports. It received a three-star green building pre-certification, perfectly embodying the Zhan Tianyou Award's core principle of fine craftsmanship and quality first.

On the cultural and human-centric design front, the T5 terminal draws deeply from the heritage of the ancient capital of thirteen dynasties and the essence of Silk Road culture, achieving a profound integration of modern aviation architecture and traditional Chinese civilization. As the project's main construction and operation entity, the Western Airport Group played a leading coordinating role, bringing together premier design resources, skilled construction teams, and core research capabilities, all anchored to the goal of building a benchmark "safe, green, smart, and humanistic" airport. The group took the lead in compiling and co-authoring six national and industry standards, including guidelines for four-type airport construction and application standards for building information modeling at civil transport airports, establishing a replicable and scalable core technology system for super-large airport construction, smart operation and maintenance, and green building practices, and distilling a highly valuable "Western Airport experience."

With the completion and commissioning of the Phase III expansion, Xi'an Xianyang Airport has officially entered a new development phase featuring three runways and four terminal areas. Its hub support capacity, transit and transfer efficiency, and comprehensive service capabilities have achieved transformative upgrades, with the northwest core aviation hub's agglomeration, radiation, and influence continuously rising. Currently, the airport's route network is steadily optimizing, with a strong focus on expanding westbound air corridors. It has become the first airport in China to achieve full coverage of all five Central Asian countries with service to eight cities, and its route network to Xinjiang is the most extensive nationwide. The airport efficiently facilitates connectivity between northwest China and both domestic and international destinations, fully activating the development momentum of the hub economy, gateway economy, and mobility economy.

Winning the Zhan Tianyou Award marks a new starting point for the Western Airport Group. The organization is systematically reviewing and distilling the mature experience gained from the Phase III project in areas such as quality control, technological innovation, green construction, humanistic design, and hub operations, building a standardized, systematic, and intelligent model for the construction and operation of large international aviation hubs. It will continue to advance the commercialization of scientific and technological achievements, push forward with high standards in the completion and upgrade of follow-up construction work, deepen smart civil aviation development, optimize hub service systems, and improve integrated multimodal transportation functions, all in a determined effort to create a modern, world-class international aviation hub that is safe, efficient, green, smart, and culturally refined.