Nearly 10,000 passengers have been stranded at the Beijing
Capital International Airport as the heaviest rainstorm to hit
Beijing this summer canceled nearly every flights leaving the city
on Monday night.
Airport authorities have to adjust the takeoff schedules on
Tuesday to ensure layover flights from Monday take off first.
But this has postponed even more flights.
"I left home at 6:30?AM hoping to catch an 8:30 flight to
Xining," says a Beijing office worker surnamed Yi. "But the airport
was overcrowded with layovers from last night and there's no way
for my flight to take off any time before 2:00 pm."
The rain began to hit most parts of the city at 5:30 p.m. on
Monday, but nearly all flights were canceled after 3:40 p.m.
against thunder and lightning alarms from the central and local
meteorological bureaus, airport authorities and airline companies
confirmed.
Clerks at the airport's service desk confirmed at least 40
flights were canceled on Monday night. "It rained in many other
northern cities, too. Many flights to Beijing were also
canceled."
The terminal building had become a mess by 10:00 PM, with
children and elderly people sleeping on the floor and furious
passengers protesting with airline companies, which claimed they
were unable to provide food and lodging.
An Air China spokesman said passengers had to arrange for their
own food and lodging when flights were laid over by bad
weather.
"The flight was canceled at 3:40?PM but the airline company
never explained," said a passenger surnamed Su, who was planning to
take a China Eastern flight to Shanghai. "The airport and airline
companies should have been more prepared for the bad weather and
provided better service."
A group of 120 teenage students heading home to Wenzhou in the
eastern Zhejiang Province had to huddle together in the terminal
building for the night. Their teacher complained one of them caught
cold and had a fever on Tuesday. "We don't have the budget for
hotel rooms," said their teacher on condition of anonymity.
"Besides, we have to wait here for the first flight in the
morning."
Some passengers complained all nearby hotels were fully booked
on Monday night. "We couldn't go anywhere even if we wished
to."
As several flights to Beijing were canceled, nearly 1,000
passengers were stranded for 20 hours at Hangzhou airport in
Zhejiang Province.
The first flight from Hangzhou to Beijing took off at
8:10?AM on Tuesday.
(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2007)