Local airports see number of passengers soar this summer

The city's two airports have been extremely busy this summer. Both Hongqiao and Pudong International Airports are receiving a high number of passengers, and especially a rapid rebound of inbound and outbound passengers.

The city's two airports served 2,273 flights daily in July, rising by 9.6 percent from the same time a year earlier, the airport authority said on Friday.

They received or departed 359,000 passengers per day, 17.1 percent higher than last July. There were 106,000 inbound and outbound passengers each day, 57.8 percent more than the same time last year.

On July 27, Pudong airport set a new record by having 250,000 passengers.

To better service the rising number of expatriate passengers, the police station of Pudong airport dispatched more officers with bilingual abilities to participate in patrols and give guidance and help.

The larger passenger and goods amount and high temperatures impose strong challenges on airport staff, who spare no effort to ensure flight safety, punctuality, and passenger satisfaction.

Staff who work on the parking apron are facing very tough conditions during the continuous hot days in Shanghai, where the number of high-temperature days this summer is expected to be among the top 10 in local history.

Zhang Hui, who adds aviation oil at the apron, said he serves over 20 planes each day.

"All the oil-adding task is fulfilled by just one worker," he said. "Our priority is to ensure the safety of the airplane and ensure the smooth oil-adding operation. Not one mistake is allowed.

"All the operations must be conducted efficiently and accurately. We can wait for planes and but we can't let planes wait for us."

Along with the rise of international flights recently, the two airports have also seen a rapid rise of inbound and outbound passengers and goods. Since this summer, Pudong airport has processed over 90,000 passengers each day.

To enhance efficiency, airport customs has widely adopted and promoted intelligent measures to provide more convenient and quicker service.

"Before passengers take their luggage, customs have conducted checks on the sorting line and carried out real-time and remote monitoring on checked luggage, and conducted intelligent inspection through smart software on risk identification," said Chen Yujiong from Pudong airport customs.

The checking time for each piece of luggage is controlled within 6 seconds and passengers' time in a normal immigration queue is shortened to within 30 minutes.

Officers at the immigration inspection station at Pudong airport said they had developed intelligent monitoring to conduct precise and full-covered inspection on cargo aircraft and introduced various measures like online inspection service, 24-hour declaration platform, and instant DIY flight crew reporting to improve efficiency.

Since this summer, the immigration team in Pudong airport has offered quick customs clearance service for over 2,800 cargo flights and over 160,000 crew staff. The average exit and entry time was reduced by 40 minutes.