Gilbert Sedbon/PARIS
PLANS ARE BEING finalised for the new international airport of Shanghai-Pudong in China, which will have an initial capacity of 20 million passengers a year when it opens in 2000. The airport will ultimately be capable of handling 70 million passengers by the first quarter of the next century.
A‚roports de Paris (ADP), in partnership with Sodechanges, a specialised commercial company, has been awarded the design contract, under the leadership of French engineer/architect Paul Andreu, who is in charge of the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport development programme.
Shanghai-Pudong International Airport will be one of the largest airports in the world. The first development phase of the terminal, expected to be opened in the year 2000, will cover a surface area of more than 200,000m2 (2.1 million ft2). The airport's configuration will enable further expansion.
Although now underdeveloped, air travel in China is forecast to grow by around 14% annually over the next decade - virtually twice the rate for the rest of the Asia-Pacific region. If predictions are correct, China's domestic market is poised to become the largest in the world, outside the USA.
ADP has already designed several airports in Asia, including the new airports of Hainan, in China, and Osaka, in Japan, as well as in Manila, Jakarta and Brunei.
ADP was selected from half a dozen international tenders, received from Foster/ NACO of the UK, Greiner, TAMS and HOK from the USA, and the German companies Obermayer, Airplan and Braton.
Source: Flight International
