SHANGHAI Pudong International Airport started construction of its third terminal Wednesday, adding extra capacity to what was already one of China’s busiest civil aviation hubs by passenger numbers.

The airport has a design throughput of 80 million passengers per year, and the new terminal will increase that by 50 million, operator Shanghai Airport Group announced, adding that this marks a new stage of the fourth phase of the airport’s expansion.

Official statistics revealed that the Pudong airport was the second busiest airport in China after Guangzhou’s Baiyun airport in 2023. It opened in 1999, and serves as a key hub for domestic and international flights, particularly for trans-Pacific and European routes.

It handled more than 76 million passengers in 2019 prior to the pandemics. In the first 10 months of this year, the airport handled 64.3 million passengers, ranking first among civil airports in China.

With passenger traffic approaching the limit, Pudong Airport began planning the expansion in January 2022. According to the plan, the airport will serve 130 million passengers a year by 2030, operating 805,000 flights and delivering 5.9 million tons of cargo.

The latest expansion will wrap up in 2028 when the airport will have three terminals, one satellite hall, and four runways. The design includes the new T3 terminal building, an underground transport hub connecting with the city’s subway system, an airfield, a cargo area, and other ancillary projects.

To meet airlines’ operational needs, the T3 terminal will have 90 contact stands, of which 31 will be convertible, the largest numbers of any airport in the country. (SD-Agencies)