Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) is embracing the peak of the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, known as "Chunyun" in Chinese, as tens of millions of people head home. The Spring Festival travel period kicked off on Jan 21 and will end on March 1.
The inbound and outbound flights hit 1,450 and the number of outbound passengers exceeded 120,000 on a daily basis. On Jan 27, the airport handled 1,464 flights.
PVG, together with another nine airports in Guangzhou of Guangdong province, Chengdu of Sichuan province and Urumqi of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, opened night flights between 1 am to 6 am to meet travelers’ surging demands.
According to the airport’s deployment, a total of 38 night flights, including 20 domestic ones, mainly operated by China Eastern Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines and Urumqi Air, are expected to transport passengers to Harbin, Shenzhen, Fuzhou, Haikou and Urumqi.
The airport took several measures to improve its efficiency and service. Parking of planes has been planned to cut waiting times for passengers. Luggage handlers work on shifts and other staff members stand by to cover the peak hours of night flights.
The stores and restaurants prolong their business hours so passengers can stay there in comfortable temperatures all through the winter nights.
Passengers who might miss their flight can get stickers with special logos that enable them to enjoy priority in security checks.
More staff members are also deployed in the airport’s medical station.
Thanks to coordination between the security check division and the airlines, security staff can be dynamically arranged according to flight schedules. Meanwhile, they constantly check background images on a monitoring system and patrol the airport to ensure traveler safety.
With the help of an intelligent taxi service, passengers can get easier 24-hour pick-up at designated stops in the airport.
Night shuttle buses linking PVG to many depots and the terminal – the Hongqiao transportation hub -- run from 23:00 to 45 minutes after the last flight of the day at an interval of no more than 45 minutes. The number of backup vehicles has been increased from 22 to 40. Bus lines 4 and 5 will run until 24:00 and add more buses according to passenger flow during the peak Chunyun return times.
The airport opened two customized bus routes covering a nearby 30 sq km area that runs between the airport and Sanlin and Jinqiao from 22:00 to 2:00 of the next day.
When a large flow of passengers arrive, free coach services will take them to major downtown transportation hubs such as Longyang Road and People’s Square. There is a night bus route going to Longyang Road and five routes going to People’s Square.Self-driving passengers are advised to listen to the guidance of staff or choose public transport to get to the airport due to insufficient parking space and heavy traffic. Apart from cash, traffic cards and ETC payment, parking fees at the airport can be paid through Alipay, WeChat Pay and UnionPay.
Plan for commuting time
Passengers are advised to check-in and go through the security check two hours ahead of a domestic flight and three hours ahead of an international flight.
| Terminal | Domestic/International | Peak hours |
| 1 | Domestic | 06:00-11:00; 19:00-21:00 |
| International, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan | 09:00-13:00; 20:00-21:00 | |
| 2 | Domestic | 05:00-08:00; 10:00-13:00; 14:00-19:00 |
| International, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan | 08:00-09:00; 11:00-13:00; 14:00-16:00; 21:00-23:00 |
Passengers must obey the Civil Aviation Administration of China’s regulations on aviation safety and cooperate with the security inspection personnel in the following aspects:
1. Passengers are forbidden to carry by any means controlled knives, inflammable and explosive materials, toxic or corrosive substances or items with strong magnetism or a pungent odor.
2. Passengers are not allowed to take lighters, matches and other tinder in checked or carry-on luggage. Those who deliberately conceal them will be handed over the public security organs.
3. Liquid goods shall be consigned. Liquid goods include gels, aerosols beverages and Chinese medical decoctions. Gels include shampoo, shower gel, toothpaste; aerosols include sprays, air fresheners, and leather polishing agents.
4. Passengers can carry a small amount of travel cosmetics for their own use, each in only one container no larger than 100 ml. Cosmetics and other liquid articles exceeding 100 ml shall be consigned. Flammable liquid articles are forbidden.
5. Alcoholic beverages cannot be carried with passengers, but can be consigned. The consigned alcoholic beverage should be clearly marked and kept in retail packaging. The volume of a single alcoholic beverage container should not exceed 5L. The alcohol percentage of alcoholic beverages should be 24 percent or less. Up to 5L per person of alcoholic beverages with an alcoholic content exceeding 24 percent but no more than 70 percent are permitted to be checked in or carried on board. It is forbidden to consign or carry beverages with more than 70 percent alcoholic content.
6. Lithium batteries should not be inserted in checked-in luggage. Carry-on lithium batteries must be clearly identified, and each rated energy value shall not exceed 100 Wh. When rated energy is more than 100 Wh, but no more than 160 Wh, it must be approved by the airline and each person is allowed to take two pieces at most. Lithium batteries over 160Wh are not allowed to be checked in or carried on board. Formula: Wh (watt hour) = V (volt) *mAh (milliampere hour) / 1000.
7. Spare lithium batteries must be placed in plastic bags (boxes) separately or sealed by adhesive tape on their exposed electrodes for insulation.
Fast security inspection
Those passengers taking domestic flights at T1 terminal can register for fast security inspection on the Shanghai Airport APP or its Wechat account saamedia or the Hanglyv Zongheng APP. All registered users can enjoy priority for security checks through the No 18 channel.