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Shanghai’s third airport likely to be in Nantong
July 19th 2019
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Nantong is increasingly likely to be officially chosen as the location of Shanghai’s third airport, making Shanghai the first city in Asia to have three airports. Selecting a location requires a balance between where there is land and where there is existing demand. That underscores a debate between placing airports in developed areas with passengers and cargo, versus using a new airport as an economic catalyst.
Shanghai’s Hongqiao and Pudong airports collectively handled 118 million passengers in 2018. The city aims to handle 180 million by 2035.
Nantong is in Jiangsu province, 120km north of Shanghai, but would be designated a Shanghai airport. In comparison, Beijing Daxing, due to open by September 30, is 46km south of Beijing. Daxing is on the border of Beijing municipality and Hebei province.
While the distance between Shanghai and Nantong may be large, travel time will be reduced by high-speed rail. Nantong will be built as an “airport on the track”, emulating Shanghai Hongqiao’s successful air-rail intermodal integration.
A new high-speed train from Shanghai to Nantong is already under construction. Trains will operate at 200 km/h, enabling journey times of under one hour between Shanghai and Nantong. Additional high-speed lines will connect directly with the airport, grow the catchment area and operate at faster speeds.
The airport is part of Jiangsu province’s own development and aims to have an “iron hub”. There already have been cross-government meetings, including with air traffic control, local media have reported.
This part of Jiangsu province is less developed, making airport construction easier, Jiang Huaiyu, director of the East China branch of the CAAC, said at a meeting last year, as reported by China Daily. That means the airport can help develop the area, but also that there is little existing local demand. An alternative site near Suzhou already has passenger and cargo volumes.
Nantong could be more accessible than Pudong for those in northern China. There had been considerations for Shanghai to grow closer with Hangzhou airport, but that facility also is congested.
Nantong has long been a candidate for the third airport, with press reports dating back to earlier this decade. It was previously thought the hub strategy would position Nantong as serving freight and LCCs.
That would have negatively impacted Spring Airlines, based at Shanghai. But Spring’s position is now more entrenched in Shanghai. In recent years Spring has put down more roots in Shanghai, including redeveloping Shanghai Hongqiao terminal one. Spring is upheld by the government as China’s LCC success story.
Nantong’s design capacity would be 50 million passengers a year with a construction period of 8-10 years. Construction would be part of the 14th Five Year Plan, which starts in 2021.
“In addition to its existing capacity, Shanghai is in need of another international airport that is equivalent to 1.5 times the size of Hongqiao airport, and a large general aviation airport,” Jiang said at a 2018 meeting, reported the China Daily.
The airport would be in Nantong’s Haimen and replace existing airport Nantong Xingdong, a single runway airport that opened in 1993 and handled 1.5 million passengers in 2016. Aside from Air China, it is mostly served by mid and small airlines. Donghai Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines have the most destinations.
Speculation about Nantong’s selection increased earlier this year but was denied by regulator CAAC. Since May, local officials and plans have increasingly referenced Nantong’s selection, but it appears to wait official central approval.
