SHANGHAI: Hongqiao Airport, the city's second-largest air hub, is expected to see another runway and terminal by 2010, which will enable it to transport 40 million passengers a year by 2015.

The National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top planner, has given the proposal a green light. The feasibility report is yet to be approved. If the plan goes through, the airport will build a 3,300-meter runway and a 250,000-square-meter terminal as well as other amenities, costing a total of 15.3 billion yuan ($1.98 billion).

The expansion, toward the northwest, is expected to be completed by 2010, when the city will host the World Expo.

Hongqiao Airport, located west of the city of Shanghai, has a 3,400-meter runway, a taxiway and two terminals, which occupy 81,600 square meters.

Used mainly by domestic airlines, the airport is among the three busiest in the country and is home to China Eastern, Shanghai and Spring airlines.

"The expansion is necessary and pressing as the airport has long been overloaded," the National Development and Reform Commission said in its online announcement.

Hongqiao is designed for a capacity of 9.6 million passengers a year; last year it handled 19 million.

Pudong International Airport, Shanghai's top air hub, lying in the eastern outskirts, is also under expansion, and its main projects have been completed.

By 2015, the Pudong is expected to transport 60 million passengers, handle 4.2 million tons of cargo and allow 490,000 planes to take off and land a year. Shanghai Airport Group officials said that in the future Hongqiao Airport will still focus on domestic routes, and Pudong will continue to serve primarily international travelers.

(China Daily 02/28/2007 page4)