City airports busy again as domestic tourism soars
Passengers queue at Pudong airport.
The number of flights at Shanghai’s Pudong and Hongqiao airports are back to more than 90 percent of what they were before the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The winter and spring season 2020 and 2021 of China’s civil aviation industry began on Sunday. The 154 day season will run through March 27.
Pudong International Airport plans to operate 1,379 daily flights, including 1,132 passenger flights, accounting for some 90 percent of that of 2019.
Hongqiao International Airport will handle 740 flights, seven more than that of last year, marking a new record for the number of domestic flights at the airport.
The Shanghai Airport Authority has been adjusting the time slots of international flights, which have been largely suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, for domestic flights which are being boosted by the surging demand for domestic travel.
Pudong airport is now connected with 149 domestic destinations, 19 more than that of 2019. The proportion of domestic flights at the airport has been increased to 80 percent from half.
More than 7,300 domestic flights will operate at Pudong airport weekly, a 40 percent increase on year. Over 80 popular cities have more than one daily flight connection to Pudong airport.
Hongqiao airport is operating flights to 75 domestic destinations. The flights to Wuhan in central China’s Hebei Province, once the hardest-hit region amid the pandemic, have been restored to 16 every day. Four new flights have been opened to northeast China’s Dalian, Changchun, Harbin and Shenyang cities, with two daily flights to the cities’ main airports.
