Shanghai’s secondary airport at Hongqiao has agreed a joint venture on training and business consultation with the Airport Authority of Hong Kong.
The agreement will also extend to traffic control and retail services.
Hongqiao Airport was replaced by Pudong International Airport as Shanghai’s main overseas entry point in 1999.
The airport handles mostly domestic flights as well as city-to-city connections with Tokyo’s Haneda and Seoul’s Gimpo airports which, like Hongqiao were once the main inner-city hubs but have since become secondary terminals.
Hongqiao is currently undergoing a multi-million dollar expansion programme that will boost its capacity to around 40 million passengers a year. The move is partly in response to the expected surge in demand created by Shanghai’s hosting of the WorldExpo in 2010.
Kenny Coyle