Over 400 flights to be canceled as typhoon Ampil approaches Shanghai
Staff with China Eastern Airlines work overnight at the airport control center at Hongqiao International Airport over the weekend as typhoon Ampil is likely to make landfall in Shanghai on Sunday morning.
Over 400 flights will be canceled at Pudong and Hongqiao international airports for Sunday as typhoon Ampil is likely to make landfall in Shanghai on Sunday morning.
Some 300 flights are expected to be canceled at Pudong International Airport on Sunday, while another 160 will be canceled at the Hongqiao airport, the Shanghai Airport Authority said.
Passengers are advised to keep an eye on flight information on Sunday to avoid being stranded at the airports, the authority said.
Air China has announced to cancel 41 domestic and international flights at the Pudong and Hongqiao airports for Sunday. They include outbound flights from Pudong to Osaka, Tokyo, Frankfurt and Melbourne, according to the nation's flagship carrier.
Shanghai-based China Eastern, Shanghai Airlines and China United Airlines have cancelled 165 domestic flights which were scheduled to take off or land at the city's two airports for Saturday night and Sunday.
The local airlines have also cancelled 40 flights at other airports in east China such as Ningbo in neighboring Zhejiang Province, Yantai in Shandong and the Zhoushan archipelago where the typhoon is likely to pass through before hitting Shanghai. The airlines said they would continue to adjust these flights according to the movement of the typhoon.
An engineer maintains an aircraft at the Pudong airport over the weekend to protect it from typhoon Ampil which is likely to make landfall on Shanghai Sunday morning.
Staff with China Eastern Airlines fix the aircraft berthing on aprons with cable and belt at the maintenance center at the Hongqiao airport on Saturday night.
The local Spring and Juneyao airlines also announced to cancel about 20 domestic flights at the Pudong and Hongqiao airports for Sunday.
Over 30 flights which are scheduled to land at Hongqiao airport and those berthed on the apron overnight on Saturday have been canceled, and 29 such flights have been canceled at Pudong airport, according to the Shanghai Airport Authority.
Strong winds will cause giant lift forces when blowing around the wings of aircraft berthed on aprons. Under such forces, aircraft may move and bump into each other, the airport authority said.
The remaining aircraft and vehicles on the aprons will be fixed to the ground with steel cables and belts in case of strong winds. Each cable can bear at least 7 tons of force, the authority said.
"We have launched a number of measures to fix the aircraft and boarding gates within 10 minutes in case of emergency," Zhou Rong, a maintenance engineer at Hongqiao airport said.
Some 90 flights were canceled at the Pudong and Hongqiao airports on Saturday due to the initial influence of the approaching typhoon Ampil, the airport authority said.
