Published by Swiss James on 16 Aug 2007 at 01:25 pm
Terminal 2
Here’s what it’s all about then, the reason I’m in Shanghai.
Pudong airport currently has one terminal and they’re building a new one to be opened at the start of 2008 (then, rumour has it, a third for 2011). This is what the inside of it looked like yesterday:
The main departures area
Not to get all airport-geek on you, but it pretty much looks like the terminal at Incheon, Korea. Massive glass walls at either end to let in light, and more light coming in through the ceiling. It feels much bigger and cooler than the old terminal, but that could be because there aren’t thousands of people standing around eating cup noodles.
No shops or anything in there yet of course, but the ceiling and floor look finished, loads of check-in desks are almost ready to go, and there’s light and a/c all over the place. The usual rigorous Chinese quality control is being applied to the English signage.
Apparently there are a thousand people working just on the terminal construction (not including geeks like me, people doing the gardens around the place, the new hotels, the subway link, roads etc. etc.)
Should be open in plenty of time for New Year’s Day then.
(Did I say a thousand? Make that 998)
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ohhh nice, shanghai airport is so boring, why don’t they sell magazines other than times and newsweek? why don’t they have a starbucks, why do they have small selection of stuff in taxfree? why don’t they have internet cafes, why do i have to go downstairs for the bathroom?
the whole layout in the current terminal is just plain stupid.
i was just there yesterday as well
where are all the protesters and journalists?
So what’s Hongqiao then?
I thought this post was going to be about a Tom Hanks movie sequel. Still, pictures from a construction site are probably more interesting.
jeez ’shopgrrrl’, wheres your P.M.A? cheer up.
Hey Criggin, when are you back for the xmas period? and for how long? Did you get the card I sent ofr your bithrday?
Jesus, at first glance I thought that the bottom picture was two corpses in a morgue.
I got a chuckle out of the “make it 998″ picture. I want a job like that, getting paid to sleep!
Shopgirl’s right though, the old terminal is bobbins- you can’t get a quick bite to eat, the shops have a very sketchy selection of stuff, and it’s hard to work out where you’re meant to go. Compared to places like Schipol and Heathrow which are basically shopping centres where planes occasionally land，it’s pretty old-fashioned.
Anyway Boz, of course I’m home for Christmas- it’s Andrew’s wedding you blinking clown. Things are going to be busy though- are you coming to the stag do? You’d better be you scallywag.
Daegooooo- Hongqiao is to Pudong as Gimpo is to Incheon- i.e. it’s the old one that’s close to town but not big enough to handle all of the international traffic. I’ve only to Hongqiao once, when the taxi driver didn’t understand what I said to him, I fell asleep in the car and woke up there.
Shy- it was 1:30pm so we could be charitable and say they were on their lunch break I suppose :)
Incheon is the nicest airport I’ve been in although they could do with more bars near the gates.
Heathrow terminal two smells of feet, what MUST our treasured guests think of us?
Oh don’t get me wrong, Heathrow is a horrendous place to travel to/from- have you ever tried changing terminals there? You need 3 weeks and a Sherpa guide. If you just went there to hang out and shop, it’d be a nice day out though.
Incheon lost cool points for me by closing down the Bowling Alley (how did they ever think that would make money?) and the arcade. But it’s still a pretty stress free place to catch a plane (get photos developed, visit an opticians, have a sauna, and paint a traditional fan).
Not a patch on Consett Airport if you ask me, I flew Maharajah class on Punjab Airways from there, the service was amazing.
1.30pm lunch break? James you’ve been in China long enough to know lunch starts at around 10.30am or something ridiculous, before I’ve even decided what to have for breakfast they’re all ordering lunch boxes!
I’m with Shopgirl (for a change) the current terminal looks like it was designed by ….. er … people who are not very good at design! You have to walk down stairs to find the toilet which has ONE cubicle which is always occupied by the chef from the noodle snack bar, so if you wanna go for number 2 you are in a bit of trouble.
It’s been said before but if sleeping in public was an Olympic event, China would make a clean sweep!
There’s actually a pretty decent bookshop (that FYI Shopgirl, sells vacuous english magazines!) that’s recently opened. But they’ve hidden away on the second floor, and it doesn’t accept credit cards.
In an airport, and it’s cash only- wtflip?
One can certainly do worse than to imitate Incheon, which is one of the best airports in the world, I think.
puss på er!!!
The new terminal 2 looks awesome! Someone said it was dedicated to the star Alliance members flying into PVG. I wonder if they are gonna make a Star Alliance lounge…
i hope this terminal is better than the original terminal 1, since terminal 1 had a few controversies such as the lines making the inability to capture photos and the lack of amenities (including mcdonalds).