City airports brace for coming typhoon Ampil
An engineer inspects the landing gear of an aircraft at Hongqiao International Airport on Friday to ensure safety during the coming typhoon.
Shanghai’s airports and airlines have made full preparations and created emergency plans as typhoon Ampil is likely to make landfall in east China over the weekend.
The city's airport authority has inspected and stabilized the "ground anchors" of all 268 boarding bridges at Pudong and Hongqiao international airports.
Once the approaching typhoon brings gusts of wind, the bridges will be lowered down and fastened with the anchors, which are tight wires attached to the ground.
Aircraft and vehicles on the aprons will also be fixed to the ground with steel cables in case of strong winds, said Gu Xiaoyang, deputy general manager with the Hongqiao airport operation control center of China Eastern Airlines.
The Shanghai-based carrier has about 30 planes being berthed at Hongqiao airport overnight every day, and about 60 at the Pudong airport, Gu said.
Security guards will increase patrols across the aprons to prevent flying objects being blown onto the runways, the airport authority said.
An engineer inspects the information system of a bridge gate on the apron of Pudong International Airport on Friday to ensure safety during the coming typhoon.
"The outdoor advertisement boards have also been fixed at both airports to prevent all kinds of disasters and causalities," the authority said in a statement.
To protect the runways from being inundated, the Pudong and Hongqiao airports have dredged nearby waterways as well as inspected pumping stations, drain pipelines and flood walls.
The Hongqiao airport, which is more likely to flood, has put five pumping stations on standby and dredged over 25 kilometers of drain lines and surrounding waterways, the airport authority said.
A flurry of flight delays and cancellations are expected to hit both airports if the typhoon makes landfall near Shanghai.
Flights delayed or cancelled by bad weather will be rearranged and adjusted more swiftly with a joint flight management platform, while passengers will be informed of weather conditions and flight changes in a more timely manner, the airport authority promised.
