A large passenger plane made a successful trial flight on the
third runway at Shanghai Pudong International Airport today,
indicating that the runway is ready for use when a second terminal
opens next month.
A China Eastern Airlines' Airbus A340-300 jet took off from the
runway at 5:28 am to test the new facility, including apron, signs,
security and navigation. It landed at 6:49 am.
The 3,400-meter-long and 60-meter-wide runway can handle the
Airbus A380, the world's biggest passenger plane.
The operation of the runway will make Shanghai the first city on
the Chinese mainland that runs two airports and four runways.
The airport's annual capacity is expected to rise to 60 million
passengers and 4.2 million tons of freight with the opening of a
new terminal and the runway.
The airport will build a third passenger terminal and two more
runways by 2015 to meet rising air travel demand.
The expansion will further boost the capacity to 80 million
passengers a year and six million tons of freight at that time.
(Shanghai Daily February 19, 2008)