Fog in east China disrupted the air travel plans of thousands of
passengers in Shanghai and Hangzhou on Thursday, airports said. The
Xiaoshan International Airport in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang
Province, had a visibility of less than 50 meters on Thursday
morning. Eighty-three flights were delayed and around 5,000
passengers affected.
On Wednesday, 90 flights were cancelled at the Xiaoshan airport,
stranding 9,000 passengers, according to Wang Kangmin, an airport
official.
Wang said the airport arranged for 53 provisional flights at
midday Thursday to transport passengers. By 4 p.m. Thursday, all
passengers stranded Wednesday had left by air. In Shanghai, 340
flights could not take off or land as scheduled and around 60 were
cancelled at Pudong International Airport due to fog. Foggy weather
has affected the coastal airport frequently in the past few
days.
(Xinhua News Agency January 11, 2008)