PASSENGERS taking China Eastern and Shanghai Airlines domestic flights out of Hongqiao International Airport had to check-in earlier than normal, starting from yesterday.

Check-in desks now close 40 minutes before departure — up from 30 minutes — for domestic flights at both terminals.

Check-in deadlines for international flights remain unchanged at 45 minutes before takeoff for Hongqiao, and 50 minutes at Pudong airport, China Eastern said yesterday.

“The earlier closure aims to give passengers more time for security checks and takes into account the increased passenger traffic on domestic flights during the summer vacation,” a staff member with the airline, surnamed Shen, said.

China Eastern and Shanghai Airlines introduced self-service check-in procedures at Pudong’s T1 and Hongqiao’s T2 last month. But 20 percent of passengers are still checking in manually at the desks, the airline said.

Flight closure times remain unchanged for China Southern Airlines, Air China and Spring Airlines at the city’s two airports, which is 45 minutes before departure.

As the city’s airports expand to cater to growing traffic, an underground subway linking to a new satellite terminal at Pudong will begin operation in June, 2019, the city’s major engineering designing body said yesterday.

The west line will link Terminal 1 with Satellite 1 and the east line will connect T2 and S2 at Pudong.

The subway train will be A-type, the same as those operating on the city’s Metro, the Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design Institute (Group) Co said yesterday.

Passengers will be able to board their aircraft right after getting off the train without having to take another security check, a designer for the subway with the institute said. It will take only four minutes for passengers to reach the boarding gate at the satellite terminal from the security check at either of the existing terminal buildings.

Construction has begun on the H-shaped satellite terminal building, which is said to be the world’s largest. It is scheduled to open in 2019.

S1 will mainly serve China Eastern and Shanghai Airlines and other SkyTeam carriers, while the other part of the terminal building will serve Air China, China Southern and other Star Alliance airlines.

With 83 departure gates and about 120 bays for aircraft, the third terminal will cover 620,000 square meters — larger than the 490,000-square-meter T2. Passengers will check in at one of the two existing terminals and then take the subway to the new facility.