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September 10, 2019

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World’s largest satellite terminal to open at Pudong airport next week

PUDONG International Airport’s new satellite terminal, the world’s largest on size, will open on September 16, the 20th anniversary of the airport’s opening.

It will largely expand the capacity of one of the world’s busiest airports, while improving the flight on-time rate and streamline the transfer procedure.

As the core project of the third-phase expansion of the Pudong airport, which began on December 2015, the sprawling H-shaped terminal building, known as S1 and S2, covers 620,000 square meters and is about 700 meters from terminals 1 and 2.

Passengers to depart from the satellite terminal will check in at one of the two existing terminal buildings and then take a subway, a ride of about two and a half minutes, to get to the new facility.

Arrival passengers will take the subway to T1 and T2, before receiving entry inspections and picking up luggage. The subway train will run every five minutes.

“It will be clear and convenient for passengers to reach the new terminal and get familiar with the new procedure with sufficient guidance and volunteers,” said Feng Xin, president of the Shanghai Airport Authority.

“Fast return routes have also been prepared in case they enter a wrong terminal,” he added.

The satellite terminal has 90 boarding bridges and 125 aprons. Passengers can board over 90 percent of the domestic and international flights from terminal buildings directly, rather than take the shuttle bus to board from the tarmac, said Hu Zhihong, general manager of the Pudong airport.

Currently, nearly half of the flights at the Pudong airport require shuttle bus rides.

Other new facilities have been built along with the satellite terminal to ensure better punctuality and faster transfers. They include an automated luggage transport system which can handle 5,000 baggage per hour, additional aprons, taxiways, navigation lighting, a long-term garage, an energy center and other infrastructure.

Two tunnel projects, for instance, have been completed to serve luggage, shuttle and service vehicles between T1 and S1 as well as T2 and S2. They have largely reduced the taxing distance for airliners and improve the punctuality, according to the authority.

The flight on-time rate at the Pudong airport is above 80 percent on average with the new facilities, better communications with the air traffic controller and airlines as well as more precise weather forecast, Feng said.

Last year, the average flight punctuality at the Pudong airport was 82.73 percent and that of the Hongqiao airport was 89.22 percent, better than most domestic airports, he added.

Furthermore, a central transfer hall covering 8,000 square meters has been built in the S1 terminal where passengers can transfer between domestic and international flights conveniently. Passengers can transfer between two domestic flights, for instance, at the same level at the satellite terminal, Hu said.

After the terminal is fully operational, S1 and T1 will mainly serve China Eastern, Shanghai Airlines and other SkyTeam Alliance airlines. It can handle 36.8 million passengers a year.

S2 and T2 will handle 43.2 million passengers a year with China Southern, Air China, Star Alliance and Oneworld members.

When the new terminal is open, the Pudong airport will be able to handle 80 million passengers annually, 6 million more than last year.

To serve the large number of passengers, the new subway trains, the world’s first airport transport system using steel wheels and rails, the same as Shanghai’s Metro lines, are designed to carry 9,000 passengers per hour.

Each train is about 94 meters long with four compartments, two for domestic flight passengers and two for international travelers. They have screens for flight information and luggage racks.

Passengers will feel more comfortable at the new terminal, featuring 6-kilometer-long huge glass curtain walls and a large inner space wall, Feng said. The S1 follows the blue hue of T1, while S2 is decorated with yellow color like T2. Various chairs and sofas have been prepared for passengers, along with Internet sections and wireless charging facilities.

They will also have more shopping and dining options at the new terminal which has over 28,000 square meters of commercial facilities, including over 10,000 square meters of duty-free shops, compared with 6,000 square meters at T1 and T2.

“More international duty-free brands will open at the new terminal to meet the demands of an international mega airport,” Feng added.

The sprawling satellite terminal also features energy-saving designs, which can save some 9 million kWh of electricity, 216,000 tons of water, 1,600 tons of diesel from supportive vehicles and cut the carbon dioxide emission by 115,000 tons annually.

Shanghai’s two airports have become overburdened with passengers and cargo. Together they handled over 117 million passengers in 2018, a 5.2 percent increase, making it the world’s fifth-busiest air hub after London, New York, Tokyo and Atlanta.

A series of expansions and renovations, including the building of the satellite terminal and a three-year renovation of Terminal 1 at Hongqiao International Airport, completed in October 2018 are helping to make services more efficient.

Meanwhile, the 68.6-kilometer express line that will connect the Pudong and Hongqiao airports will start operation in 2024 and will shorten the travel time to less than 40 minutes.




 

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