Shanghai has overtaken Beijing as China's biggest aviation hub, as its two major airports Pudong International Airport and Hongqiao International Airport outperformed Beijing’s Beijing Capital International Airport and Nanyuan Airport in total passenger throughput in the first half of the year. The two Shanghai airports already surpassed Beijing Capital International Airport in passenger throughput in 2014.
Nightview of Shanghai Pudong International Airport
In 2014, Shanghai’s Pudong and Hongqiao airports recorded throughput of 51.69 million trips and 37.97 million trips respectively. The total throughput of 89.66 million trips exceeded Beijing Capital International Airport’s 86.13 million trips in the same year.
In the first half of this year, Shanghai’s Pudong and Hongqiao airports recorded throughput of 28.99 million trips and 19.16 million trips respectively. The total passenger throughput of 48.15 million trips exceeded Beijing Capital International Airport’s 44.07 million trips.
Pudong airport’s cargo throughput volume was ranked third globally and first locally for the seventh consecutive year. Its 2014 cargo throughput at 3.18 million tons was ahead of Beijing Capital International Airport's, ranked second in China at 1.33 million tons. Shanghai’s two major airports recorded 3.61 million tones in combined cargo throughput, 27% of total national cargo throughput, compared to 1.89 million tons in combined cargo throughput of Beijing’s two main airports.
Pudong airport was also the busiest port of entry and exit in China in 2014, having processed 9.7301 million passengers, or 18.47% of all entries and arrivals by foreigners, ahead of Beijing International Capital Airport, which handled 7.7770 million passengers or 14.77% of all entries and arrivals by foreigners.
This year's boom in Chinese outbound tourism, especially to Korea and Japan, has led to a hike of above 20% in international passenger throughput at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, a significant margin against Beijing airports' 9.3% growth in the same period. (Translation by David)
