Top 10 airports in China (3)

4.Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport

Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport is located near the town of Hongqiao in Changning District, 13 kilometers west of downtown Shanghai, and is closer to the city center than Pudong Airport, Shanghai's main international airport.

The airport was initially built in 1907 as a small military airfield. It was later reconstructed and expanded for civilian aviation. It served as Shanghai's primary airport until the completion of Pudong International Airport in 1999, when many international flights were shifted to Pudong. The airport was rated the most improved airport in the world by Skytrax in 2011.

The airport now connects Shanghai with 89 Chinese cities and 63 overseas cities. In 2010, Hongqiao Airport handled 31.30 million passengers, a growth of 24.8 percent over 2009, making it the 4th busiest airport on the Chinese mainland and the 41st busiest in the world.

3.Shanghai Pudong International Airport

Shanghai Pudong International Airport is located at the coastal plain of the Pudong New Area, about 30 kilometers away from Shanghai city center, covering an area of 40,000 hectares. The first phase of the airport construction project was completed in September 1999, and the airport was further expanded in 2008 prior to the Beijing Olympic Games. Shanghai became the first city on the Chinese mainland to have five runways for civilian aircraft (Shanghai Pudong airport and Shanghai-Hongqiao airport both included).

The airport connects the city with 62 Chinese cities and over 90 foreign cities through cooperation with 48 domestic and foreign airlines. From 2009 to 2010, passenger traffic increased 27.1 percent from 31.92 million to 40.58 million passengers, slightly less than that of Guangzhou Baiyun Aiport.