The proposal comes as the Chinese capital's current airport prepares to open a new terminal next month that will double its size ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August.

Regulators have formally recommended building the new airport and are trying to pick a site, the Xinhua News Agency and newspapers said, citing Yang Guoqing, deputy minister of the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China.

The existing Beijing airport, which says it is one of the world's 10 busiest, has expanded repeatedly in recent years in response to fast-growing traffic.

But the number of passengers is rising much faster than expected and is due to top 60 million this year, seven years ahead of schedule, the reports said, citing Yang.

The expansion of the existing airport is meant to increase its annual capacity to 76 million passengers. -- AP