Shanghai Pudong International Airport opened its third runway today while its second terminal will also open soon, Wenhui Daily reported today.

The airport is the first in the country to boast three runways. It will be able to handle a total of 60 landings and takeoffs per hour during peak periods, the report said.

The second terminal and the third runway will boost the annual capacity of the city's bigger airport to 60 million passengers and 4.2 million tons of freight, according to previous reports.

The airport, the world's sixth busiest in terms of capacity, handled 253,671 takeoffs and landings last year.

It is the only airport in the world where courier companies UPS and DHL have a base. It ranked fifth globally for cargo and mail volume in the first three quarters of 2007.

The airport also plans to build a third passenger terminal and two more runways by 2015 to meet rising air travel demand, Wu Nianzu, chairman of Shanghai Airport Authority, said in previous reports.

(Shanghai Daily March 13, 2008)