International business aircraft operators face another four to six months of exclusion from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport (ZSSS) while customs, immigration, and quarantine facilities are being upgraded. Until the work is complete, flights from outside China will have to use the city’s main gateway, Pudong International Airport (ZSPD). Jet Aviation, which runs the FBO/MRO at ZSSS and the FBO at ZSPD, did not respond to AIN's inquiries about this situation.
Despite the short-term disruption, China’s economic planning arm, the National Development and Reform Commission, has given the go-ahead for moves to improve business aviation access to Hongqiao as part of a broader government policy to bolster trade, lure investments, and integrate transportation modes. Under the recently upgraded Hongqiao International Open Hub initiative, authorities are preparing to improve the quality of business aviation services at Hongqiao while also working with authorities at Pudong to cater to the demands related to long-distance international routes in and out of the Yangtze River Delta region.
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