More than 60 domestic flights will move from Hongqiao Airport to Pudong International Airport today as the parking apron at Hongqiao readies for an overhaul that won't be completed until October.

The moved flights include an average of 20 flights a day to Xiamen and Guilin as well as 40 flights a day connecting Shanghai with Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Fuzhou, according to the Air Traffic Control Bureau.

To prevent confusion, passengers are advised to check with their airlines before heading for the airport.

Hongqiao Airport will continue to handle around 30 domestic flights a day on Shanghai Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Southern Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines.

It will also still handle some international flights and several flights to Hong Kong and Macau.

Those flights will move to Pudong International Airport on October 28, when that facility takes over all flights outside China's mainland. By that time, some of the domestic flights relocated to Pudong will have moved back to Hongqiao.

Currently, more than 10 international and domestic airlines, including Singapore Airlines, Royal Nepal Airlines, Thai Airways and China Eastern Airlines, operate Asia-bound flights out of Hongqiao Airport.

The move is part of the Shanghai government's long-term plan to establish the spacious, ultra-modern Pudong facility as one of Asia's busiest international hubs by the end of 2010.

Yesterday, the city also started to use a downtown terminal building on Nanjing Road that is connected to the Pudong airport by shuttle bus.

The city announced that 15 more buses will be deployed on the line linking downtown with the Pudong International Airport, bringing the total to 123 a day.

A new line connecting the terminal building with Hongqiao airport will go into operation soon.

However, it remains unclear when air travelers will be able to check their baggage and receive boarding cards at the down-town terminal before making the trip to the Pudong airport.

Shanghai Airport Authority, operator of the city' two international airports and the project's sole investor, spent more than 200 million yuan (US$24 million) to build the terminal, the first of its kind on the Chinese mainland.

( eastday.com June 10, 2002)