Shanghai Pudong Airport

Many spotters know Shanghai mainly as a destination on the departures board in Frankfurt or Munich. Yet Shanghai Pudong Airport is one of the biggest stages in aviation: China’s busiest airport, home of China Eastern Airlines and, behind Hong Kong, the world’s second-largest cargo airport. For you, that means widebody jets from all over Asia, Chinese home-grown designs like the C919 and freighters almost around the clock. At the same time, spotting in China takes some tact. Here you’ll learn what makes the airport special and what to watch out for.

An airport for the new city in the east

In the 1990s, Pudong, the district east of the Huangpu River, grew at breakneck speed into a financial and industrial center. The old Hongqiao airport on the west side of the city was wedged in between residential areas and had hardly any room to grow. Shanghai therefore decided on an entirely new major airport on the coast of the East China Sea, about 30 kilometers east of downtown. A large part of the area was wrested from the tidal flats.

Construction of the first phase began in October 1997. On September 16, 1999, Pudong officially opened with one runway and Terminal 1, and from October 1, 1999, the terminal handled passengers. Since then, international traffic has gradually moved from Hongqiao to the east. Hongqiao remained and today mostly handles domestic flights – right next to one of the country’s largest high-speed rail stations.

This division of labor shapes spotting to this day. If you want to see long-haul, international airlines and freighters, you go to Pudong. If you want to experience lots of domestic flights in dense succession, Hongqiao is the place. Both airports are operated by the Shanghai Airport Authority.

Five runways and a huge apron

Pudong has grown in several big steps. The second runway was added on March 17, 2005, the third in 2008 together with Terminal 2. By 2015, the fourth and fifth runways were complete. Today the airport has five runways – as many as hardly any other airport in Asia.

All runways run roughly north–south. Depending on the wind, jets therefore land and take off toward the north (direction 34/35) or the south (direction 15 to 17). Which runway is currently used for takeoffs and which for landings changes with traffic and time of day. You can only plan reliably in the short term, using wind and a live map – how that works is explained in the article Understanding the runway direction in use at an airport.

The distances are enormous. Several kilometers separate the outer runways, and the cargo facilities stretch along the edges of the grounds. For you as a spotter, that means no single vantage point covers the whole airport.

Terminal 1, Terminal 2 and the satellite

The passenger center consists of two large terminals facing each other. Terminal 1 from 1999 is the older of the two buildings. Terminal 2 opened on March 26, 2008, shortly before the Olympic Games in Beijing. Air China and many airlines of the Star Alliance, among others, are found there.

In September 2019, the S1/S2 satellite went into operation. At about 622,000 square meters, it is considered the largest standalone satellite building in the world. A driverless train connects it underground to both terminals. For transit passengers, the satellite is interesting because it sits in the middle of the apron and offers clear views of taxiways and parked widebodies from many gates.

South of the existing facilities, Terminal 3 is under construction; work began in early 2021. It is designed for about 50 million passengers a year. So expect construction sites and changed access roads around the grounds. Which airline is handled at which terminal changes occasionally – check your boarding pass or the operator’s website before your flight.

China Eastern and the home airlines

China Eastern Airlines dominates Pudong. The airline was founded in 1988, is headquartered in Shanghai and uses Pudong and Hongqiao as its most important hubs. Since June 2011, together with its subsidiary Shanghai Airlines, it has belonged to the SkyTeam alliance. You recognize China Eastern by the red-and-blue swallow on the tail. Special liveries also stand out again and again, such as Disney designs to match Shanghai Disney Resort. What alliance liveries look like is shown in the article Star Alliance, oneworld and SkyTeam liveries.

The types from COMAC, the state-owned aircraft manufacturer based in Shanghai, are especially exciting for collectors. China Eastern was the first airline to put the C919 into service and flew it in scheduled service for the first time on May 28, 2023. The fleet has been growing steadily since, with numerous more on order. In Europe you practically never see the C919 – in Shanghai your chances are good.

Besides the China Eastern family, two private airlines are at home in Shanghai: Juneyao Air, which also flies long-haul, and the low-cost carrier Spring Airlines with a pure A320-family fleet. Air China uses Pudong as an international hub, China Southern Airlines as another hub, and Hainan Airlines is also represented. If you want to quickly tell the A350 and 787 apart, the articles A350 or Boeing 787 and Telling the Boeing 777 and 787 apart help.

Cargo: No. 2 in the world

In air cargo, Pudong plays at the very top. According to figures from the airport association ACI, Shanghai ranked third in the world from 2019 to 2021 and in 2023; in 2024 and 2025 the airport moved up to second place – only Hong Kong handled more. In 2025 it was, by preliminary figures, about 4.09 million tons. The reason lies in the hinterland: the Yangtze Delta with Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Nanjing is one of the world’s most important industrial regions, from electronics to auto parts.

The home cargo airline is China Cargo Airlines, the cargo subsidiary of China Eastern, with Boeing 777F. On top of that come the big integrators with their own facilities at the airport: DHL opened one of Asia’s largest express hubs in July 2012, and UPS Airlines and FedEx Express also operate large cargo centers in Pudong. How the three big express networks work is explained in the article DHL, FedEx and UPS; background on the DHL network is under DHL Aviation.

For spotters, that means a colorful cargo program. Besides Chinese freighters, you see US operators such as Kalitta Air, Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, plus cargo arms of big network airlines from Europe and Asia. Many transpacific freighters connect Shanghai with Anchorage Airport; connections to Europe lead to Leipzig/Halle Airport and Frankfurt, among others. Which freighter version you have in front of you is revealed in the article Identifying cargo aircraft.

Guests from all over the world

In 2025, Pudong counted about 85 million passengers, of which just over 35 million were international – more than any other airport on the Chinese mainland. The airline spectrum is correspondingly broad. From the region come Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong, China Airlines and EVA Air from Taiwan, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines from Korea, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways from Japan, and Singapore Airlines.

From Europe, Shanghai is connected by Lufthansa, Air France and KLM, among others, plus Gulf airlines such as Emirates and Qatar Airways. China Eastern itself flies to several European destinations. Which connections currently exist and with what equipment is best checked shortly before your trip – schedules change, and airspace closures have lengthened many routes between Europe and East Asia in recent years.

Registrations are a collecting field of their own. Mainland China uses the nationality mark B followed by four characters, mostly digits, and for newer registrations also combinations of digits and letters. Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan use their own blocks. The system is explained in the article on Chinese B registrations.

Spotting in Pudong: what works and what doesn’t

There is no official observation deck like in Munich or Hamburg in Pudong. Spotting here mainly means: from the terminal, during layovers and with lots of discretion. Around airports in China, people look closely at who is out with a camera and telephoto lens, not least because some airports also have areas used by the military. Lingering with a long focal length at fences or roadsides can lead to checks.

• Gates in the S1/S2 satellite: Many window walls with a view of taxiways and widebodies at the gate – the best option for transit passengers.
• Terminal 1 and Terminal 2: A view of the apron between the terminals, plus windows at the pier ends.
• While taxiing and taking off: From the aircraft window, on the way to the runway you often get to see the cargo aprons and parked jets.

Photography inside the terminal is generally unproblematic as long as you don’t capture security checkpoints, staff or restricted areas. Follow instructions immediately, kindly show your pictures if in doubt, and completely avoid drones. General notes are in the articles Photography in the terminal and Spotting abroad.

Light, haze and weather

Shanghai lies at just over 31 degrees north. Because the runways run roughly north–south, the sun at noon is off to the side of the runway axis – depending on the window side of the terminal, you get better light in the morning or the afternoon. When exactly the sun is behind you, you can work out with the article Planning the sun position.

The bigger enemy is the air. In early summer, the rainy season brings low clouds for days, in high summer heat and humidity press down, and between July and September typhoons can paralyze flight operations. The air above the asphalt often shimmers strongly – tips against it are under Avoiding heat haze. The article Windy and other weather maps helps you assess weather conditions in advance. You often catch the clearest days in autumn and after cold fronts in winter.

Getting there

Pudong is famous for its maglev. The line, built with German Transrapid technology, connects the airport with Longyang Road station and was the world’s first commercial high-speed maglev. It now takes just over eight minutes for roughly 30 kilometers at up to 300 km/h; until May 2021 it occasionally even reached 431 km/h. At the end of the line, you change to the metro.

Since April 8, 2010, Metro Line 2 has also run directly to the airport and across the city to Hongqiao – cheap, but much slower. Since December 27, 2024, the Airport Link Line of the Shanghai suburban railway has been faster between the two airports. Airport buses and taxis are available too. For transfers between Pudong and Hongqiao, that means: allow enough time – even with the new line, it’s a trip across the metropolis. More tips are in the article Spotting during layovers.

Pudong compared

In East Asia, Pudong competes with several big hubs. Hong Kong Airport is the No. 1 in air cargo and home of Cathay Pacific, Beijing Daxing Airport is the capital’s new hub with China Eastern and China Southern. Seoul Incheon Airport is another cargo giant, and Singapore Changi Airport is the home of Singapore Airlines.

If you prefer to stand on a real observation deck, you’ll be happy in Japan: at Tokyo Haneda Airport with its observation decks or in Narita at Sakura no Yama. You also see China Eastern jets and freighters from Shanghai in Europe, for example at Frankfurt Airport from the Zeppelinheim viewing platform or on the Leipzig/Halle observation deck.

Verdict

Shanghai Pudong is an airport of big numbers: the international gateway to Shanghai since 1999, China’s busiest airport in 2025 with about 85 million passengers, and No. 2 in the world for cargo. For spotters, that means enormous variety – from the China Eastern A350 and the C919 to the integrators’ jumbo freighters.

Pudong is not a classic spotter destination with a terrace and fence spots. But if you allow enough time during a layover, use the window seats in the satellite and follow local rules, you’ll go home with many types and airlines that are hardly ever seen in Europe.