Flight schedules at Shenzhen Baoan International Airport returned to normal on Tuesday after two days of travel chaos caused by bad weather.
Aviation industry analysts blamed the bedlam on the air traffic control system, failures in airport management and the huge number of passengers keen to return to work after the weekend.
Carriers also failed to notify passengers of flight changes in time for them to avoid being stranded at the airport, the analysts said.
About 400 flights were cancelled at the airport from Sunday due to thunderstorms and heavy rain. It prompted the airport to issue its first red alert for flight delays – the highest in a four-tier system – and asked passengers not to go to the facility on Monday morning.
Chaos at Shenzhen airport: highest alert for delays as 200 flights cancelled, passengers scuffle with police
The red alert was lifted at 10pm on Monday night. Flight operations were “basically normal” Tuesday morning, with only one flight cancelled by 9am, the airport said on its official social media account.
But the airport’s website showed that 13 inbound flights and 26 outbound flights were cancelled yesterday.