Shanghai Airport Authority, operator of the city's two airports, said the facilities handled 90,000 people a day during the first 10 days of a 40-day peak travel period that began on January 7, an increase of 28 percent from last year. The number of flights rose 19.3 percent from the same period in 2003 to reach 821 flights a day.

Those numbers surpassed the authority's expectations. Long-haul buses leaving Shanghai are also carrying many more travelers than expected. Inter-provincial bus stations around the city handled 1 million passengers during the first 11 days of the peak period, 21.5 percent more than last year and higher than the forecast of a year-on-year increase of 11 percent.

(Shanghai Daily January 19, 2004)