What’s new: Eight flights scheduled to arrive at Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport in the northern Hebei province were diverted to other airports or made a U-turn to where they took off on Thursday, Variflight data showed.
Shijiazhuang airport staff told Caixin that the flight course changes occurred “because the airspace was occupied by other users,” but did not specify who the users are. The staff said takeoff and landing have since resumed to normal at the airport as of Thursday afternoon.
The affected flights were supposed to arrive between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Seven of them took off again and arrived in Shijiazhuang Thursday afternoon while one was cancelled after being diverted to Beijing Daxing International Airport, according to Variflight data.
What’s more: Local media outlet Hongxing News reported that the flight diversions could be linked to an “unidentified flying object” which was later determined to be a balloon, according to a staff from the North China Regional Administration of the Civil Aviation Administration. The report did not specify the nature of the balloon.
Variflight data showed 96 flights scheduled to leave and arrive at Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport were cancelled on Thursday, while two of them were marked as unscheduled cancellations.
Contact reporter Kelly Wang (jingzhewang@caixin.com) and editor Bertrand Teo (bertrandteo@caixin.com)
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