DALIAN, Oct. 28 -- An offshore airport project on an artificial island began construction in the coastal city of Dalian in northeast China's Liaoning Province on Saturday.

As a regional aviation hub, the Dalian Jinzhou Bay international airport is designed to be a 4F-class airport, the highest in China's airport class with the capability of handling large aircraft.

The airport will be constructed in two phases. In the first phase, two runways and a 500,000-square-meter terminal will be built, which can handle an annual throughput of 43 million passengers and 550,000 tonnes of cargo and mail.

Once completed, it will contribute to the local efforts in enhancing the integrated multi-modal transportation hub network system, encompassing sea, land, air and rail transportation.