Shanghai leapfrogged Beijing in becoming China's largest aviation hub in the first half of this year. This is the first time for Shanghai overtaking Beijing as the busiest hub in the country.

Shanghai's two airports, in the first five months of this year, have dealt with 48.15 million passengers, including 28.99 million in Pudong Airport (PVG) and 19.16 million in Hongqiao Airport (SHA), according to statistics released by East China Air Traffic Management Bureau. Thereby, indicating that the footfall of fliers in Shanghai surpassed the 44.07 million that passed through Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK).

Although there is no exact statistics available for Beijing Nanyuan Airport (NAY), there is no doubt that the number of passengers at Shanghai's two airports surpassed Beijing's total numbers if counting in Nanyuan Airport, which has a passenger throughput of 4.93 million in 2014.

Shanghai's two airports handled 3.61 million tonnes of cargo and mail in 2014, which accounted for 27 percent of the country's total cargo and mail, compared to 1.89 million tonnes at Beijing's two airports. PVG handled 3.18 million tonnes of cargo and mail, 1.33 million more than PEK, ranking third in the world and first in China for seven consecutive years.

In additional to these, Shanghaai welcomed more regional and international passengers than Beijing. In 2014, PVG handled up to 26 million regional and international passengers, accounting for about 50 percent of the total passengers.

In the first half of the year, PVG saw over an average growth of 20 percent in international passengers with booming outbound travel, which is pretty higher than Beijing's.

It is predicted that the air traffic demand will continue to grow at Shanghai's two airports in the coming years too, due to the launch of Shanghai's Disneyland.

Since congested PEK has reached saturation point, Shanghai has overtaken Beijing as China's largest aviation hub before the new Beijing airport is completed and opened.