An emergency drill and usage licensing ceremony was held at Shanghai Longhua helicopter airport on December 18, announcing reopening of the hundred-year-old airport.

Formerly known as Shanghai Lunghwa Airport, Shanghai Longhua Airport which is located in the south of downtown Shanghai on the bank of the Huangpu River and founded in 1917 was a former military airport and later rapidly developed into East Asia's largest civil airport after it was transformed for civilian use in 1929.

It was utilized as People's Liberation Army Air Force(PLAAF) airfield at the early stage of Shanghai’s liberation and was taken over by Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) at the end of 1950s. In 1966, for the convenience of management, domestic flights were all sheduled in Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, leaving Longhu airport only a training base of CAAC Shanghai Administration and an alternate landing port for flights. After the 1970s, Longhua airport has gradually evolved into a general aviation aerodrome with its flighting lasting to 2011.

Its reconstruction project started in 2016 with an investment volume of 130 million to create a helicopter airport covering an area of 35,000 square meters. With the completion of the project, the airport is to be transformed into navigation service center of East China.