Shanghai airports go into high gear for Spring Festival holiday rush
Red lanterns are seen at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport for the upcoming Year of the Dragon.
Shanghai's two airports are working at full stretch for this year's Spring Festival holiday rush, which will start on Friday and last until March 5.
To celebrate the Year of the Dragon, special decorations, traditional cultural performances and commercial promotions have also been prepared in order to provide passengers a good travel experience.
Following the end of the pandemic, China is expected to see 9 billion passenger trips during the travel rush, a period of high transportation demand as people return home for family reunions. Passenger trips via railways, highways, waterways and civil aviation services are expected to hit 1.8 billion during the 40-day period, according to the Ministry of Transport.
The city's two airports are operating in full swing for this year's Spring Festival rush, which will start on Friday.
Officials from the Shanghai Pudong International Airport said that passenger volume has rebounded quickly to pre-pandemic levels.
"Our airport is expected to serve 56,000 flights with 7.73 million passengers during this Spring Festival rush. There will be 1,413 flights with 193,000 passengers each day. The peak day will have over 1,480 flights with 210,000 persons," said Zhang Ruijia, vice director of the Shanghai Pudong International Airport Operation Center.
"Domestic cities like Harbin, Changchun, Shenyang, Chongqing and Kunming are the hottest this year, while Japan, South Korea and Southeastern Asian countries like Singapore are popular international destinations."
Passengers queue up at airline check-in counters at Pudong airport on Thursday.
Domestic airport destinations have fully recovered while the figure is 72 percent for international airport destinations compared with the pre-pandemic period, he added.
"The peak days for leaving Shanghai are February 7 to 9 and the returning peak is February 16 and 17 at our airport. We have done proper preparations for the high passenger flow by opening more service desks, and streamlining security check procedures to ensure passengers a safer and smoother experience," Zhang noted.
Passengers pose for photos in front of a dragon decoration at the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport on Thursday.
The Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport will serve over 30,000 flights during the travel rush with 5.2 million passenger volume, officials revealed. The daily flight number will be 11 percent more than usual with 24 percent more passengers.
"Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Harbin are the hot destinations for passengers at Hongqiao, while popular international destinations are Hong Kong, Macau, Japan and South Korea," said Pan Jun of Hongqiao airport.
"We are using artificial intelligence to do real-time analysis and assistant judgment to help improve flight management and ensure flight punctuality."
To enhance service for overseas passengers, the two airports have set up more stands for currency exchange and service windows to rent portable WIFI and also offer mobile payment assistance.
Passengers queue up for security check at Hongqiao airport.
