Published by Swiss James on 26 Mar 2008 at 08:30 pm
So last night/this morning at about 3:30 Terminal 2 at Pudong airport started working its magic. First passenger in at 6:30, first flight a little after 7.
I’ve been working on this since about March 2006 so it’s good to have the thing actually running now, and with not much fuss at the final push either (it’s been a constant slow panic since last summer mind you).
Here’s a couple of pics, I’m off for a couple of pints.
Stay close to your phone James, just in case!
Congratulations! Does this spell the end of your stay in Shanghai, and of ispyshanghai.com?
Congrats! Have a pint for me.
Congratulations! That’s for working out how to do the scrolling banner thing, the airport looks pretty OK as well
Very cool James, congrats on bringing it all together!
I`m hanging in Aruba this week, what a cool island!!!
Ian
Congratulations. I’ll be using it in a few months (I don’t go on many holidays) so I’ll know who to blame …
Come on James, where’s the full story about you being tucked up in bed at a hotel while others had to stay up most of the night to ensure everything worked……
…still as long as you got up refreshed the next day and able to some photos thats the main thing……
Yes James, how is the breakfast at the Marriott these days or was it the Hyatt?
Umm… Good job! Be nice to the man (you can always blame him later). Look what happened at Heathrow Terminal 5:
http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/travel/news/article3631601.ece
By the way, who was the architect? Looks pretty good and much cleaner than the old terminal.
CP - James actually designed it in his spare time when he was on breaks from working on the flight reporting systems. I gave him a few suggestions of course based on my experience of using the old terminal, like “have more than one stall in the toilets”. I kid you not - ONE stall.
hey I never claimed to hold the airport up all on my own, and yes it’s true that I was in bed when the actual switching on was done.
The plan was that when the likes of Crispy had finished breaking everything, I would swoop in and save the day. Thankfully I’d already tested everything so well, that even his incompetence couldn’t undo my good work.
WoAi- if the new terminal was designed so that you had no complaints, you’d complain about that I reckon.
CP–it’s designed by some local architects with a local firm, based on some inspirations from Richard Rogers’ amazingly beautiful proposal in an earlier global design competition for T2. (The local gov paid for the inspirations and had it redesigned by the local firm.)
James, i love your blog. Now that the terminal is completed, is your ‘Shanghai holiday’ coming to an end soon?
orig / maxiewawa
I’m hanging around for a while yet, making sure things go well for the first few months of the airport being open. I’ll let you know before I go.
(Oh and thanks orig!)
thx James, we’ll be missing you then…why don’t you work on the Hongqiao expansion?
orig, do you work for the airport authority?
does this mean you’ll be out of shanghai in june?! (HSBF and i may come for a visit in mid-June.)
time will reveal all Angela. Time will reveal all.
Angie, the word on the street is that James is going to denounce the queen and become a bona fide Chinese citizen, he’s been sized up for a Mao-suit and everything!
dingle- didn’t I see you wearing your pyjamas, arguing over the price of a sea cucumber in a wet market whilst smoking a really thin cigarette and carrying your girlfriend’s handbag?
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.