By XUE Bingbing

Shanghai’s “third airport” has been talked about for years, but nothing has materialized, until now. Shanghai Airport Authority is planning to build a new airport together in partnership with Nantong City Construction Group.

According to a notice on the website of the Shanghai Administration for Market Regulation, the authority that operates both Pudong and Hongqiao airports will build a new civilian airport on the northern bank of the Yangtze, in the city of Nantong in Jiangsu Province. In reality, the site is about 120 kilometers from Shanghai. The Airport Authority will own 51 percent of the airport and Nantong Construction will hold the rest.

On January 21, the president of Shanghai Airport Authority QIN Yun said that a joint venture for the new airport was progressing and Nantong airport was ready to submit for approval. 

Though locals have been talking about the “third airport” for more than a decade, an official plan only emerged in 2019 when the State Council released an outline for the integration of the Yangtze River Delta Region, which described “a new airport in Nantong as part of Shanghai’s global aviation hub.”

Construction of the new airport will begin in November this year and be finished around 2027. It will have an annual throughput of 40 million passengers and two long-distance runways.

Shanghai’s two airports have become the biggest air hub in China. The passenger throughput of Pudong and Hongqiao airports totaled 120 million in 2019, ranking Shanghai 4th in the world.