On September 7, the Airports Council International (ACI) Asia-Pacific & Middle East released its 2025 Air Connectivity Index report, naming Shanghai Pudong International Airport the best-connected airport in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as awarding it the prize for the most improved connectivity.
The report evaluates connectivity levels across 315 airports in the ACI Asia-Pacific & Middle East region, using metrics such as network scale, the economic weight of destinations, connectivity quality (including aircraft types, network layout, and stopovers), and overall efficiency. The findings show that in 2025, air connectivity grew by 10% in the Asia-Pacific region and 21% in the Middle East. Connectivity at Chinese hub airports continues to improve, with Shanghai Pudong Airport, Guangzhou Baiyun Airport, Beijing Capital Airport, and Hong Kong International Airport all ranking in the top 10 for total air connectivity across Asia-Pacific and the Middle East in 2025. The report predicts that as air connectivity grows, future airport development will become more closely aligned with airspace capacity, infrastructure, and policy environments.
In 2025, Pudong Airport offered scheduled flights to 291 destinations across 53 countries, setting a new record for the number of countries served. The airport handled over 84.99 million passenger trips and more than 4.09 million tons of cargo and mail throughput, with a passenger transfer rate of 16.2%. Since last year, Pudong has launched the world's longest non-stop passenger route, "Shanghai-Auckland-Buenos Aires," and will increase frequency from two to four weekly flights by the end of this year. New medium-to-long-haul destinations include Belgrade in Serbia, Casablanca in Morocco, Geneva in Switzerland, Dublin in Ireland, Tbilisi in Georgia, and Krasnoyarsk in Russia, alongside new Asian passenger routes to Shymkent and Almaty in Kazakhstan, Tashkent in Uzbekistan, and Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia.
The airport's enhanced hub connectivity has attracted more carriers. In 2025, a total of 110 airlines operated scheduled flights at Pudong, with 13 new passenger and cargo carriers added since last year, including Air Serbia, SCAT Airlines, Jeju Air, Air Astana, MIAT Mongolian Airlines, and Air Mediterranean. This marks a new level of connectivity and international cooperation. Pudong Airport has also actively promoted its "Easy Transfer at Shanghai Airport" transit brand, enabling inter-airline and inter-terminal transfers, with a seamless "one-stop check-in and through-checked baggage" experience that makes connections between domestic trunk routes and long-haul international services more convenient.
According to the Shanghai 15th Five-Year Plan for Accelerating the Construction of an International Shipping Center, Shanghai aims to comprehensively upgrade its capabilities and build an all-directional, composite international aviation hub. Currently, Pudong Airport is actively developing an international route network covering "one circle, six corridors, and five channels" to support the "Air Silk Road" initiative, while also building a domestic network spanning the entire country. On the morning of September 4 this year, Pudong Airport's total cross-border passenger volume at the port surpassed 25 million trips, the first among national air ports and six days earlier than last year, maintaining its top position nationally. Additionally, over 2.8 million transit passengers have enjoyed the 24-hour direct visa-free transit convenience at the airport.
As connectivity continues to improve, more domestic and Asian travelers are choosing to depart from Pudong Airport for long-haul destinations such as Europe, further strengthening Shanghai's role as an international aviation gateway and its all-directional radiation capabilities into 2026.