Shanghai's Pudong International Airport served 6 percent more passengers than the same period of last year, and is expected to hit a new record of over 50 million in annual passenger traffic.

Meanwhile, its fourth runway is set to open for business by the end of this year, so as to ease the air traffic congestion in the airport.

The fourth runway, along with an auxiliary taxiway and traffic control facilities, finished construction in late 2013 and will be put into service by the end of this year. With the new fourth runway, Pudong International Airport will be able to handle 80 million passengers a year.

Currently, the airport has 135 aircraft stands including 70 gates and 65 remote stands, serving 24 domestic airlines and 70 international (regional) airlines, with connections to 85 domestic destinations and 109 international (regional) destinations.

In 2014, Pudong International Airport was approved by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) to expand its capacity to 74 flights per hour, and as many as 1,300 flights per day. The airport is expected to see its passenger and cargo traffic grow rapidly.

In addition, Pudong International Airport has scheduled to build two satellite terminals (S1 and S2) in 2015, with as many as 110 new aircraft stands, and plans to start construction next year.

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