China's busiest aviation hub, Shanghai, Tuesday starts accepting bids to design a second international air terminal as the city races to ramp up capacity to cope with booming air travel, officials said Monday.

The new terminal, to be finished in 2007, would be built to handle 40 million passengers a year - 17 per cent more than Hong Kong did in 2002 - and help hike the city's overall capacity to 70 million passengers annually by 2010.

Air passengers through China's financial hub should jump 15-20 per cent annually to 50 million a year by 2010, after a brief hiccup this year amid the SARS outbreak, reaching 75-80 million in 2015, an airport official told reporters.

"Even if we weren't hosting the World Expo in 2010, that kind of growth is assured," Shanghai Airport Authority executive Yi Jiwu said.

The Shanghai Airport Authority was set up in 1998 to manage both Pudong airport, a glittering modern structure on the fringe of the eastern financial district, and the older Hongqiao airport now used only for domestic flights.

Close

Today's Top News		Top Business News
+The next great leap after Shenzhou V ( 2003-10-21) +Hu calls for balanced development ( 2003-10-21) +Report: SARS not airborne virus ( 2003-10-21) +Japan urged to resolve weapons issue ( 2003-10-21) +Int'l AIDS group opens Beijing office ( 2003-10-21)		+Home-appliance giants want wheels ( 2003-10-21) +Exchange-rate reform under study ( 2003-10-21) +Health insurance sector called for ( 2003-10-21) +SanDisk teams up to open outlets ( 2003-10-21) +Housing prices start to sag in Shanghai ( 2003-10-21)