Calgary's new airport runway set to open in June

The countdown is on for the new runway to open at the Calgary International Airport.

Construction is still underway on the new $600-million runway, which will be more than four kilometres long and over a metre thick. Several more weeks of work are needed but the first flight is scheduled to depart from the runway on June 28.

"This runway was planned 40 years ago," said Garth Atkinson, president of the airport. "To see it all come to pass, through a lot of planning, a lot of design, construction in the last few years and all the effort by so many people and so many organizations, it's quite exciting."

The airport says its top goal is to offer a non-stop flight to China.

Atkinson says that's likely still a few years away.

A new international terminal is also under construction.

The budget for the terminal alone is roughly $1.4 billion and it is expected to open in late 2015.