If you’ve booked flights in or out of Shenzhen tonight or tomorrow morning, best double-check your booking to make sure there are no changes.

Shenzhen’s grizzled old airport will finally close its doors at 10 o’clock tonight. The old beast just hasn’t been able to keep up with the city’s rapid growth, and is often bursting at the seams with crowds.

The new airport looks spectacular. Even though it’s called Terminal 3, it will replace Terminals 1 and 2, which will now be taken out of service.

The new airport is set to open at 6 o’clock tomorrow morning (November 28), so there will be a lull in flights going in and out of Shenzhen from 10pm until then.

Bao’an Airport is reminding passengers at the new airport that check-in counters will close 45 minutes before departures, adding that passengers traveling domestically should aim to be at the airport 90 minutes before departure and international passengers are encouraged to arrive two hours early.

There will also be some transportation hiccups. The metro line to the terminal isn’t finished yet, so you’ll need to take the Luobao Line to Airport East Station, then take a free shuttle bus to the new terminal. The ride takes about 30 minutes, according to transport authorities.

The terminal will be a huge upgrade to what Shenzhen has now. As we reported in August:

The new terminal will be nearly triple the size of current terminals A and B combined, and will have double the number of counters. Fifty-eight new boarding gates will also be included, covering a total area of 450,000 square metres. By comparison, Heathrow’s main Terminal 5 building covers just 300,000 square metres.

Forty-five million passengers are expected to pass through the airport each year by 2020, up from just 29 million in 2012.

If you pass through the new airport in the next few days, let us know your thoughts in the comments.