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Shanghai exits lockdown: Pudong, Hongqiao airports resume a fraction of passenger flights as travel restrictions prove to be a deterrent
- Thirty-one flights took off and arrived in Shanghai by early afternoon on Wednesday, around 2 per cent of the total a year earlier
- Students and workers were among the people leaving the city, but confusion over validity of PCR tests left many stranded
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Activity at Shanghai’s two main airports was muted on Wednesday, with only a fraction of the usual passenger-flight schedule in operation after the city reopened for business following a two-month lockdown.
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A total of 31 flights took off from and arrived in China’s financial and commercial hub as of 12:43pm on Wednesday, 63 per cent of the total scheduled a day earlier and just 2 per cent of the 1,560 flights on the same day last year, according to aviation data provider Flight Master. Thirty-eight flights were cancelled on Wednesday.
The slow recovery at Pudong and Hongqiao airports – two of the busiest aviation hubs in the world – highlights the lockdown’s lingering impact on the world’s second-largest aviation market, while disrupting people’s daily lives. And with Chinese consumers avoiding travel due to restrictions and compulsory hotel quarantines, experts expect the industry slump to persist for some time.
Hongqiao airport was largely deserted on Wednesday, with only small groups of passengers waiting in the departure hall, mostly college graduates heading home for the summer vacation.
The nearby Hongqiao railway station was much busier, as more trains were put into operation. Students and migrant workers were leaving the city as they believed it would be harder to find decent jobs in the immediate future.
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