Flights from Chengdu airport experienced extensive delays on Wednesday, after the city was hit by the strongest thunderstorms experienced in the region this summer. "From 6-7pm, only one plane was able to land – but no planes left Chengdu, due to excessive rainfall," a spokeswoman from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport said on Wednesday evening. Her remarks were echoed by feeyo.com, a website that monitors Chinese airports’ flight information, which showed a dramatic drop-off in flight activity at Chengdu airport yesterday evening. At least 60 flights expecting to take off from Chengdu airport after 4pm were ordered to halt, according to the airport’s website. “The large number of delays is caused by thunderstorms that hit Chengdu and nearby regions,” a spokesman from the airport’s office said in a telephone interview. The storm, the most severe to hit the Chengdu area this summer, began around 3.30pm, according to the Chengdu Evening News . It forced 25 incoming flights to divert to airports in nearby provinces and caused 15 flights to cancel, the report said. Nearly 10,000 passengers were stranded in the airport. "We could not promise or tell the stranded passengers when they will be able leave. The thunderstorms are expected to last until 2am tomorrow," airport staff added. We could not promise or tell the stranded passengers when they will be able leave. The thunderstorms are expected to last until 2am tomorrow Southwestern Sichuan is regularly affected by rainstorms and floods during July and August. The provincial meteorological observatory issued a blue storm alert on Tuesday, warning that continuous rain would hit over a dozen of cities in Sichuan basin region until Thursday, the West China Metropolis Daily reported. High-speed rail services operating from Chengdu were also impacted by the adverse weather conditions. The travel disruption comes at a sensitive time for China, as air passengers grow increasingly impatient with continual delays to flights around the country. A recent survey by FlightStats, a US-based airport statistics tracker, said Beijing and Shanghai airports had the worst record for on-time departures and arrivals out of 35 major international airports. Responding to the mounting complaints, China’s aviation authorities earlier this month ordered commercial planes at eight major Chinese airports to take off on time – even if they have no landing slot at their destination. Chengdu airport, which was among the eight, reported a 23.5 per cent increase in on-time flights since the new policy took affect, the West China Metropolis Daily reported on Wednesday. But critics say this drastic move could lead to planes having to circle airports for hours waiting for clearance to land – and has been criticised as unsafe and impractical by many experts. A recent report by the China News Service said management problems were responsible for 42 per cent of delays to commercial flights, while air traffic control measures accounted for 26 per cent of hold-ups. Quoting official figures, it added bad weather accounted for about 21 per cent of flight delays and military restrictionscontributed to another 7 per cent.
