Shanghai Pudong Airport has become the first airport in China to have four runways as its fourth runway has become operational. The addition of the new runway enables the airport to have two takeoffs and two landings simultaneously.
A world-class runway
Pudong Airport being one of three busiest gateway airports in China has its three runways stretched to their capacity as transportation demand grew rapidly. At its peak last year, the airport had the capacity for 74 planes per hour and handled the takeoff and landing of 1,300 planes daily.
The fourth runway, located 440 meters to the east of the second runway and measures 3,800 meters long and 60 meters wide, is built to the highest global standard, meeting 4F class aircraft usage specifications and able to accommodate the largest passenger aircraft model A380.
Plane taxi time to be halved
Pudong Airport transportation safety director and traffic control center chief Qiang Guo said the three-runway layout limited the airport’s operational capacity. “It took an average of 10 to 20 minutes taxiing before a plane could take off, according to statistics by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC),” he said. He predicted that the addition of the fourth runway travel will halve the taxiing time from the runway to the gates.
The control tower’s deputy chief Wei Chen said Pudong Airport runway traffic will increase 30%-50% with the new runway and the daily takeoff/landing traffic will increase to above 1,400 planes.
Fifth runway under construction
Pudong Airport is currently building a fifth runway, mainly designated for testing domestically produced big aircraft. This 4E class runway at 1,750 meters east of the fourth runway measures 3,400 meters long and 45 meters wide, and will be able to service all types of aircraft except the A380.
Pudong Airport will also build a south satellite terminal adding 105 gates. It will be connected to the main terminal building by MTR. By 2020,when Pudong Airport’s passenger throughput is projected to exceed 80 million trips and cargo throughput above 3.4 million tons, the airport will become one of the world’s top ten largest airports.(Translation by David)
