(Image source from: Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport myth busted})

Kudized as an architectural masterstroke, China's futuristic Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport, build on a 'cathedral-like scale' and hailed as a temple to aviation, opened the doors of its brand new terminal to the world, as the first flight soared off from China to Mongolia yesterday early morning.

Build on a whopping budget of £612million, the terminal, which boasts of avant-garde facilities, dramatic looks and a massive capacity and is twice the size of Terminal Five at Heathrow, surely promises to put the wonder back into flight. Not quite so, reveals The Independent.

Dubbed as the East Asian country's explosion onto the world stage of global travel, the travel hub claims to offer services to far-flung destinations of Sydney, Dubai and Cologne. However, a report by The Independent claimed that the airport only caters to regional destinations of Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Also, unlike the largest Chinese cities, Shenzhen does not allow a visa-free stopover.

'One has to wonder who will fly here from outside China, given the choice of flights to Hong Kong and to Macau, both actively promoted in the UK, both nearby and both visa-free,' Neil Taylor, whose travel firm Regent Holidays pioneered travel to China, told the paper. 'Shenzhen had its appeal as a small village when China first opened up in the late 1970s, but tour operators will find it hard to promote now.'

Designed by Roman architect Studio Fuksas, Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport is spread across a rambling 4.3 million square feet (400,000 sq m) and is capable of handling 45 million passengers a year.

Apart from it's colossal build and futuristic style, other tourist attractions of the airport include a former Soviet aircraft carrier (complete with fighter jets) called Minsk World and Dapeng Fortress, a battle site during the 19th-century Opium Wars against the 'British colonial invaders'.

AW: Suchorita Dutta Choudhury