Beijing plans to connect its new international airport to the downtown via a 40-kilometer urban rail transit line and three expressways, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Urban rail transit will also be used to connect the two international airports in the capital, allowing passengers to travel between the two locations in 30 to 40 minutes, Liu Yinchun, deputy director of Beijing municipal commission of development and reform, said during a radio program.

Construction on the new capital airport in Beijing's less-developed southern Daxing district will start next year, and it will be put into use in 2018.