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‘Cooperation’ eases problems of disruption at city’s airports
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A RED alert that had been warning of “specially severe” disruption to flights at Shanghai’s two airports was downgraded to the second highest level yesterday afternoon.
This was due to “cooperation and good management” between military and civil aviation regulators, China’s air traffic regulator said.
The alert became orange at 3:30pm. Previously, the Civil Aviation Administration of China had said there would be a 75 percent reduction of capacity at Hongqiao and Pudong airports between 2pm and 6pm.
In the event, capacity was reduced by 25 percent and normal services had resumed by last night, officials said.
Some 160 flights were cancelled at the airports yesterday while about 40 were delayed, far fewer than the more than 560 flights that had been expected to suffer disruption.
“The air traffic authority has closely cooperated with the military to largely increase the capacity of the two airports,” the administration’s air traffic regulator said on its website.
Shanghai Airport Authority confirmed later that airspace restrictions had been lowered, thus reducing the impact on the city’s airports, which have seen frequent disruptions to flights since early this month due to military maneuvers and stormy weather.
As a result, many passengers switched to trains, making tickets hard to come by.
Tickets for the high-speed railway service between Shanghai and Beijing have been sold out this week, while tickets from Shanghai to neighboring cities, such as central China’s Wuhan and Changsha, have been in short supply, according to tickets website 12306.com.
Though the flight delays were less severe than expected, Shanghai’s traffic authority was to add two Metro Line 2 trains last night if there was a backlog of passengers stranded at Pudong airport due to delays.
The additional trains were due to leave from the airport at 10:20pm and 10:40pm for Longyang Road station.
“Additional trains will be added whenever the air traffic authority issues the highest alert for flight delays and cancellations,” said a city traffic commission official.
Extra taxis and airport buses were also being dispatched to Hongqiao and Pudong, he said.
Surveillance cameras had been installed at the taxi waiting area at both airports, and more cabs would be dispatched whenever there were passengers waiting, he added.
As part of the measures taken in the case of delays, airport buses taking passengers to various places downtown will set off whenever they are full. Usually there is a 30-minute interval between buses.
China’s Civil Aviation Administration has a four-level alert system for flight delays and cancellations. Blue, yellow, orange and red alerts indicate normal, serious, severe and specially severe conditions.
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