Military exercises cause major flight delays in China as PLA carries out live fire drills
Exercises cut capacity at airports in country's east by up to two-thirds
Air travellers in eastern provinces were again hit by massive flight delays yesterday, with capacity cut by up to two-thirds thanks to ongoing PLA military exercises.
The civil aviation regulator issued an orange alert - the second highest in a four-tier system - early yesterday morning for 23 airports, including those in Shanghai, Nanjing, Nanchang, Hefei, Zhengzhou and Wenzhou. An orange alert indicates that between 50 and 90 flights would be either cancelled or were delayed for more than an hour.
Before the warning was lifted at 5pm, 85 flights were cancelled at Pudong and Hongqiao airports in Shanghai, The Civil Aviation Administration of China said.
It said air traffic capacity in the Shanghai area was cut by up to 65 per cent.
One passenger, who wished to remain anonymous, said he had been due to fly from Qingdao to Shanghai on an 8.40am flight, but arrived at the airport to find the flight had been rescheduled to 1.30pm.
"Why didn't they tell me in advance so I didn't have to wake up so early?" he said.
