AIR cargo operations could be forced to leave Shanghai's Pudong and Hongqiao airports as passenger numbers increase, reports the Shanghai Daily,

Jiang Huaiyu, a director of the East China Civil Aviation Administration of China, said that low-cost, cargo airlines and private jets might soon be required to go to Nantong in Jiangsu province, or Jiaxing or Ningbo in neighbouring Zhejiang province.

Over the last 30 years, passenger traffic at Pudong and Hongqiao has risen 160 per cent to 80 million, while cargo turnover has tripled in the period to more than three million tonnes a year.

Passenger numbers are expected to rise to 120 million by 2020 and the two airports will be hard pressed to cope, said Wang Jijie, deputy president of the Shanghai airport authority.