GUANGZHOU, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Baiyun airport in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, on Thursday officially put into operation its Terminal 3 and fifth runway, making it China's first civil airport to operate five commercial runways.

The expansion of the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, one of the country's three major international aviation hubs, is another step toward building a world-class airport cluster in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

In the near future, the airport will be able to handle 120 million passengers and 3.8 million tonnes of cargo and mail. With a terminal capacity of 140 million passengers and 6 million tonnes of cargo, it will be among the world's busiest airports in both categories.

The expansion project took five years and cost 53.77 billion yuan (about 7.6 billion U.S. dollars). It also includes an integrated transport center designed to improve air, rail and road connectivity.