Apocalyptic airport atmosphere captivates Reddit users

A traveler's long layover at Shanghai's Pudong International Airport became a surreal, movie-like scene. The passenger, who wished to remain anonymous, posted chilling images of the empty airport on Reddit under the username hotdogwater58. The viral post, amassing over 22,000 upvotes since early April, captured the surprising desolation at one of the world's busiest travel hubs.

The airport, usually a vibrant hub connecting China's largest city, sat almost abandoned during the traveler's 20-hour stopover. Vacant hallways, closed shops, and an eerie quietness filled the vast terminal, creating an apocalyptic atmosphere.

"I was flying from Sydney to London. I've never been there before, but I've never seen an airport that big so deserted," the Redditor explained, expressing astonishment at the ghostly scene that unfolded before their eyes.

The five-image slideshow depicted a surreal landscape within the international terminal's core areas, where the travelers spent their lengthy layover. Vast concourses stood eerily empty, with not a soul in sight. According to the poster's caption, storefronts with familiar brands stayed shuttered, their interiors shrouded in darkness for the entire 20-hour layover.

The photo timestamps showed the deserted state persisted day and night, with pictures taken at 7:34 p.m., 1:22 p.m., 8:27 p.m., 8:45 p.m., and 7:15 a.m. the next morning. Each snapshot portrayed a similar scene of abandonment as if the whole airport had been frozen in time.

The experience was a stark contrast to the passengers' departure point, Sydney International Airport, which they described as "10 times more packed" during rush hour. The unusual circumstances left the travelers bewildered, and they described it as "a very odd experience" that felt surreal and unsettling.

During the prolonged layover, the passenger resorted to sleeping on the floor, as the available seating consisted solely of hard plastic benches, offering little comfort. With limited entertainment options and restricted access to most apps due to the airport's Wi-Fi blocking, they passed the time by exploring the terminal's desolate corridors and drawing in a sketchbook; their only companion was the eerie silence that enveloped the space.

The lack of activity extended to the airport's eateries - only a Starbucks and a small Chinese noodle restaurant remained open, their dim lighting casting long shadows across the vacant food court. The rest of the restaurants, comprising 90% of the dining options, were closed. Though appearing operational with logos and cash registers, the storefronts remained shuttered throughout the layover, adding to the unsettling ambiance of a once-vibrant space now frozen in time.

The eerie scene depicted in the viral post may seem surprising, given Pudong International Airport's status as one of China's leading airports in 2022, based on passenger output data compiled by Statista. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent travel restrictions likely contributed to the unusual calm observed during the layover as global air travel ground to a halt.

Reddit users expressed shock and disbelief at the deserted airport, with comments ranging from "That's eerie" to "This is wild. I would've assumed it'd be so busy." One user recalled a similar pre-pandemic experience, stating, "Had the same experience at the same airport just before Covid hit. Felt like the world ended, and no one told me."

Though the images depict an unsettling scene, the passenger's experience seems to be an outlier, as air travel has bounced back since the pandemic. Another Redditor noted, "Must have been an oddity. I visited a few years ago, and it was jam-packed."

The viral post starkly reminds us of COVID-19's profound impact on travel, transforming once-bustling airports into ghost towns devoid of people. 

For the traveler, though, the near-empty Pudong Airport during their layover will surely remain an unforgettable, surreal experience – a snapshot of a world briefly paused. Their images hauntingly captured the pandemic's far-reaching impact when even the busiest airports fell silent, mere shells of their former selves.