Shanghai Pudong International Airport has officially embarked on its third construction phase to build a satellite hall for the airport that is scheduled to be completed in 2019. The construction of a satellite hall will allow Pudong Airport’s annual passenger throughput to grow from 42 million trips to 80 million trips and improve its domestic and international transit capacity.

Shanghai Pudong Airport’s satellite hall will have an area of 622,000 square meters and will be located south of Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. It is currently the largest free-standing airport satellite hall in the world and the only one in China.

The Shanghai Airport Authority is China’s largest airport operator. Its Pudong Airport and Hongqiao Airport’s had 99 million trips in combined annual passenger throughput volume in 2015. Shanghai Airport Authority’s president Yiming Jing said Shanghai’s airports will pass the 100 million trip volume milestone in 2016 and by 2020 he expects that its two major airports will have 110 million to 120 million trips in passenger throughput to make Shanghai one of the top three busiest airports hub cities in the world.

With the construction of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone and Shanghai Disney Resort, Pudong Airport’s passenger flow is expected to steadily climb. This year it recorded 60 million trips in passenger throughput.

The construction of Pudong Airport’s satellite hall will allow it to increase its last-minute reservation rate from 52% to over 70% and improve its efficiency as a transit hub.

Pudong Airport currently has two terminals, four runways and three cargo zones. Besides the satellite hall，Pudong Airport will also either begin construction or prepare for a fifth runway, an underground passage and new parking buildings in its third construction stage.()