World’s draftiest airport?

Beijing's showpiece airport might not be everything it was cracked up to be.

For the second time in one year, Beijing's often high winds tore open a section of the roof on the Capital International Airport's Terminal 3, the highly touted and much-praised building that opened ahead of the Beijing Olympics in 2008. The world's largest airport terminal, lauded by everyone from architects to American journalists, is listed as the busiest airport in Asia, mostly because of massive increases in Chinese domestic travel in recent years.

But the China Daily newspaper and other media reported on Thursday that the airport, named in 2009 as the "world's best" by Conde Naste Traveler, likely has some fundamental problems. China Daily said the wind-cause roof tear in T3 was the second this year, "increasing doubts on the landmark building's resilience."