History of Shanghai Pudong International Airport
Early development
Prior to the establishment of Pudong International Airport, Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport was the primary airport of Shanghai. During the 1990s, the expansion of Hongqiao Airport to meet growing demand became impossible as the surrounding urban area was developing significantly, and an alternative to assume all international flights had to be sought.
After deliberation, the municipal government decided to adopt the suggestion from Professor Chen Jiyu of East China Normal University, who wrote a letter to the Mayor of Shanghai Xu Kuangdi[citation needed] suggesting that the new airport should be constructed on the tidal flats of the south bank of the Yangtze River estuary, on the coast of the Pudong development zone to the east of Shanghai.
Construction of the first phase of the new Shanghai Pudong International Airport began in October 1997, took two years to build at a cost of RMB 12 billion (1.67 billion USD), and was opened on October 1, 1999. It covers an area of 40 square kilometres (15 sq mi) and is 30 kilometres (19 mi) from downtown Shanghai. The first phase of the airport has one 4E category runway (4000 m x 60 m) along with two parallel taxiways, an 800,000-square-metre (8,600,000 sq ft) apron, seventy-six aircraft positions and a 50,000 m2 (540,000 sq ft) cargo warehouse.
A second runway was opened on March 17, 2005,[citation needed] and construction of phase two (including a second terminal, a third runway and a cargo terminal) began in December 2005 and started operation on March 26, 2008, in time for the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics.
In November 2011, Pudong Airport received approval from the national government for a new round of expansion which includes two runways. The 3,800-metre fourth runway, along with an auxiliary taxiway and traffic control facilities, is projected to cost 2.58 billion yuan (USD 403 million). The 3,400-metre fifth runway, along with a new traffic tower, will cost 4.65 billion yuan (USD 726.6 million). Construction was completed in 2015 and has doubled the capacity of the airport.
Ongoing expansion
Pudong International Airport officially started the third phase of the Pudong International Airport expansion with the construction on a new south satellite terminal on December 29, 2015. The new satellite terminal will be the world’s largest single satellite terminal with a total construction area of 622,000 square meters, which is larger than the Pudong International Airport T2 terminal building (485,500 square meters). The satellite terminal is composed of two halls, S1 and S2, forming an H-shaped structure. It will have an annual design capacity of 38 million passengers, The total cost of the project is estimated to be about 20.6 billion yuan. Halls S1 and S2 will have 83 gates. A high capacity People mover connecting T1 to SI and T2 to S2 will be constructed. After the completion of the satellite terminal in 2019, Pudong International Airport will have an annual passenger capacity of 80 million passengers, ranking among the top ten airports in the world.
Source From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Pudong_International_Airport#History
