In order to cater for the increasing number of transit passengers in Shanghai, China Eastern Airlines has established a project team in its latest efforts to shorten the so-called "minimum connecting times" (also known as "MCT") required for flight connections at both Hongqiao and Pudong airports, an official source told CARNOC.com.

It's understood by CARNOC.com that the carrier aims to lower the MCT for domestic-to-domestic connections down to 60 minutes at Hongqiao airport while reduced MCT for domestic-to-domestic transfers will be 90 minutes with other connections such as international-to-international, international-to-domestic and vice versa to require 100 minutes at Pudong airport.

However, China Eastern Airlines has informed CARNOC.com that the current plan doesn't include "cross-airport connections" due to uncontrollable ground traffic conditions. This means the current MCT required for passengers who need to transfer between Hongqiao and Pudong airports will remain for the time being.

According to details obtained by CARNOC.com, the shortened MCT requirements may be put into effect by China Eastern Airlines from as early as June.