BEIJING, August 8, 2008 (AFP) - Beijing Capital International Airport experienced its busiest day on the eve of the opening of the Olympic Games, the civil aviation authority said Friday.

In total, 1,400 planes took off and landed Thursday at the newly expanded airport, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said in a statement posted on its website, with a peak of 87 in one hour.

'This was the busiest moment in history for China's civil aviation,' Yang Guoqing, deputy head of the CAAC, said.

Flights on Friday are however expected to be fewer, as all flights to and from Beijing have been banned for security reasons from 7pm (1100 GMT) to midnight during the Olympics opening ceremony.