The story appears on

Page A5

September 28, 2020

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Metro

Hongqiao airport gearing up for yearly holiday tourist rush

Shanghai’s Hongqiao International Airport has enhanced COVID-19 prevention measures to prepare for the large swarm of travelers expected for the long holiday of the National Day and Mid-autumn festival next week.

As the coronavirus pandemic wanes, the passenger and flight volumes of domestic flights at the Hongqiao airport have been restored to the same standard before the pandemic. Passenger turnover is expected to be even higher during the coming holiday.

The airport is expected to receive 120,000 ravelers a day during the 8-day holiday which starts on Thursday, the biggest volume since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic early this year, said Tang Yichen, an official at the airport’s operation headquarters.

Some 130,000 arriving and departing passengers are predicted on the peak days, marking the restoration of the airport’s volume once severely impacted by the pandemic, he said.

“Passenger turnover began recovering in September when more travelers were willing to travel to domestic tourism destinations,” Tang said.

The most popular destinations include Kunming in southwest China’s Yunnan Province, Chongqing, Sanya in Hainan Island in the south and Chengdu in southwestern Sichuan.

Shanghai is expected to be one of the top choices for tourists during the coming holiday, further boosting the volume at the Hongqiao airport, he said.

The airport authority has stipulated that all those entering the terminals must wear masks and check temperatures.

Each trolley will be sterilized with ultraviolet light and washed with high pressure water cannons. Disinfection wipes and first-aid equipment has been prepared at the departure hall at both terminals.

To cope with the increasing number of travelers, the airport has enhanced the communications with the airlines to open enough security check channels during rush hours to reduce the waiting period for the travelers.

Additional cabs will be dispatched to pick up the accumulated arriving passengers on time, while the Metro operator will also extend the operations of the subway lines based on the number of landing flights.

The airport has also prepared various performances and concerts to entertain the passengers during the festival.

The first concert of its kind was held at the T2 terminal’s boarding hall last night. Musicians played the traditional Chinese musical instruments.




 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend