Spring travel rush handled with ease at city airports

Shanghai's two airports handled a record 13.5 million passengers during the peak travel period this year, 7.3 percent more than last year, the Shanghai Airport Authority said over the weekend.

Pudong and Hongqiao airports handled 87,670 takeoffs and landings, 4.7 percent up on last year's rush.

New services ensured smooth, punctual operations, the authority said. In a trial operation, nearly 900 overnight domestic flights — between 1am and 6am — departed Pudong. The test operation in 10 busy airports during the travel peak saw Pudong handling the largest number of flights and passengers. China Eastern, Shanghai Airlines, China Southern, Hainan Airlines and Urumqi Air operated red-eye flights to destinations including Fuzhou, Haikou and Urumqi.

Pudong airport offered transportation, shopping, dining, even medical services for passengers on overnight flights. Taxis were waiting and more than double the usual number of shuttle buses, took passengers to their destinations.

Despite the huge turnover and freezing weather, Hongqiao airport kept a good on-time rate during the peak. Punctuality was over 90 percent in February, better than most other domestic airports.

In terminal buildings, free Wi-Fi was faster than ever, up to 50Mbps. Over 50,000 people can use the Wi-Fi simultaneously.

Self-service and paperless boarding meant that some 52,000 passengers at Pudong chose security channels with facial recognition each day, making security checks very fast indeed.

Pudong airport has cameras for passengers to observe how baggage handlers unload their cases