Airlines in the oneworld alliance are to bring all their operations together at Beijing International Airport in its new passenger terminal starting from later this week. They will transfer to the state-of-the-art Terminal 3 in two phases:

British Airways and Qantas will move on Friday (29 February) - as two of the first six airlines to use the new building.

The other oneworld airlines serving Beijing - Cathay Pacific, Dragonair, Finnair and Japan Airlines - will all transfer into Terminal 3 on Wednesday 26 March.

All oneworld airlines will use check-in desks in the terminal's area C.

Dragonair and Cathay Pacific will announce details of their lounge facility in Terminal 3 ahead of their move there.

Premium passengers from other oneworld carriers will have access to the new common use lounge in Beijing Terminal 3, which will be open on 29 February, with separate facilities for First and Business Class passengers.

This lounge is located one floor up from the main departures concourse level, near the airlines' departure gates. They will offer comfortable environments and a full range of facilities for passengers whether they want to work or relax.

All six oneworld carriers serving Beijing currently operate from its Terminal 2.

Between them, they operate up to 15 departures a day from Beijing non-stop to eight destinations - Hong Kong (up to nine round trips a day), Helsinki, London Heathrow, Nagoya Centrair, Osaka Kansai, Sydney and Tokyo Narita - with smoothest of onwards connections to the near 700 airports they and their oneworld partners serve worldwide.

American Airlines plans to serve China's capital with daily Boeing 777s from its Chicago O'Hare hub from March 2009.

Designed by British architects Foster and Partners, the US$2 billion Terminal 3 covers one million square metres. With a third runway for the airport opening at the same time, it will double capacity to 76 million passengers a year.