Most of the expansion project at Shanghai Pudong International Airport is now complete following an assessment last week. The new Terminal 2 is expected to start operation before the Beijing Olympics.

Pudong International Airport now plans to build a third passenger terminal and two more runways by 2015 to meet rising air travel demand, says Wu Nianzu, chairman of Shanghai Airport Authority.

The expansion will further boost the capacity of the city's bigger airport to 80 million passengers a year and six million tonnes of freight in 2015.

Shanghai's two airports handled a record 51.57 million passengers last year, an 11.8% increase over 2006. The number of aircraft using Pudong International and Hongqiao airports rose by 7.61% to 440,809 in 2007. Pudong handled 253,671 takeoffs and landings, while Hongqiao accommodated 187,138 takeoffs and landings, according to the Shanghai Airport Authority.

Currently, 71 domestic and overseas air companies operate regular air routes to Shanghai, linking the Chinese financial and commercial hub with 179 cities worldwide.