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Shanghai and Changsha mark new passenger record
December 16th 2016
Shanghai Airport Authority, operator of Hongqiao International Airport and Pudong International Airport, on Monday set a record when its 100 millionth passenger for the year arrived on a China Eastern Airlines flight from Moscow on Monday. Read More » The two Shanghai airports are expected to handle more than 105 million passengers this year, up from 99 million in 2015.
Pudong has started construction on a satellite terminal, which will be the largest in the world, and will increase the airport’s capacity by 38 million passengers a year after opening in 2019.
In central China, Changsha International Airport last Thursday welcomed its 20 millionth passenger for the year. The airport’s passenger numbers have doubled from 10 million in 2009 and will continue to expand after the two month test period of its new second runway is completed. The extended runway, which is being tested for A380 operations, will provide a 3,800m, 4F-class take-off and landing strip that is planned for full operations by Chinese Lunar New Year in late January.
Liu Zhiren, general manager of Hunan Airport Management Group, said the second runway would lift the airport’s capacity to 33 million passengers a year, with up to 50 take-offs and landings during peak hours. Its present capacity is 15.6 million passengers a year.
Hainan Airlines put Changsha on the world map when it launched a twice-weekly Changsha-Los Angeles B787 route in January. The HNA Group carrier also serves Sydney and Melbourne twice a week from the capital of Hunan, while China Southern Airlines operates thrice-weekly A330 flights to Frankfurt. Asiana Airlines, Korean Air, SilkAir, Thai Smile and China Airlines (CAL) also offer scheduled services to the city of 7.5 million.
