Hongqiao Airport may provide more international flights before the 2010 Shanghai World Expo after completion of its expansion project, planners said yesterday.

The airport is closer to downtown districts than Pudong International Airport but currently serves mostly domestic routes, with just 16 daily flights to South Korea and Japan. But expansion may lead to a change as improved capacity will allow it to handle more international travelers, officials with the headquarters of the Hongqiao Integrated Transport Hub project said. Any increase, however, would be moderate.

The government-invested project involves a new terminal building and runway, new elevated roads to the airport and a multi-level traffic center connected to the new terminal. The traffic center will include a railway station for future express lines from Shanghai to Beijing and Nanjing.