Shanghai Pudong’s third runway now open

The third runway of Shanghai Pudong International Airport began operation on March 26 as part of the preparation for the Beijing Olympics in August. With the new runway, the East China Air Traffic Management Bureau is using a new mode in supervising aircraft. Two aircraft can take off and two aircraft can land at the same time, replacing the old system of two aircraft taking off and one landing simultaneously. The third runway is located west of the airport, beside the first runway. The two runways are near-parallel runways with a distance of 460 meters. The second runway is located east of the airport. When the three runways are used simultaneously, the third runway will mainly service landing flights from the west; the first runway will undertake departure flights to the west; and the second runway near East China Sea will mainly undertake takeoff and landing flights from and to the east. When the second runway of Pudong Airport started operating in March 2005, both runways operated independently. The first runway undertook landings. Currently, aircraft movements at the airports average 750 takeoffs and landings per day. The new system is expected to ease congestion at Pudong Airport to 60 aircraft movements during peak hour.