Shanghai Airport Closed

[raro]

Just got a phone call from my father who is bound from Shanghai to Bangkok. Just after checking in the luggage, the airport has been shut down because of a "military action".

Allegedly the Thai Airways flight from Bangkok to Shanghai has been sent back.

Does anybody has more information about this?

[Rinrada]

Raro...

I took this flight just a couple of weeks ago so have run a check on this mornings TG from Bangkok to Shanghai Airport ... (TG 662)

...dosnt of course mean that the Chinese havnt shut down the airport but looks like this one got there OK

FLIGHT INFORMATION

Bangkok> Shanghai

Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK), Bangkok, Thailand 01:44- LEFT THE GATE

Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK), Bangkok, Thailand 02:05 -TOOK OFF

Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK), Bangkok, Thailand 00:14

(PLANE IS LATE IN HOURS MINUTES)

Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK), Bangkok, Thailand - DISCREPANCIES

Pu Dong (PVG), Shanghai, China 06:41 ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL

Pu Dong (PVG), Shanghai, China 06:42 AIRCRAFT LANDED

Pu Dong (PVG), Shanghai, China 06:49 ARRIVED

[raro]

Well....that was just this afternoon, at about 2:20 pm when I got the phone call.

Still nothing on CNN and other news I checked...fact is, the airport is closed.

[taxexile]

they get a lot of fog there at this time of the year.

[raro]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/12/0...t.ap/index.html

just found this article...bizarre.....to "control air traffic volume"...

[Rinrada]

Just checked again with THAI

and..

Query Result ...Shanghai > Bangkok

Sorry..there are no flights for your requested city of departure/destination....

please try again or contact THAI offices for more information.

[Rinrada]

Just checked again with THAI

and..

Query Result ...Shanghai > Bangkok

Sorry..there are no flights for your requested city of departure/destination....

please try again or contact THAI offices for more information.

LATEST From Puddi Airport....someones pulled a plug.....

CX 6834 HONGKONG (HKG)-Shanghai Pudong (PVG) 13:15 20:20 Divert

KA 804 HONGKONG (HKG) -Shanghai Pudong (PVG) 13:15 20:20 Divert Hong Kong Dragon Airlines (HAD)

MU 502 HONGKONG (HKG) -Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA) Shanghai Pudong (PVG) 14:10 17:20 Delay China Eastern Airlines (CES)

CX 6864 HONGKONG (HKG)-Shanghai Pudong (PVG) 14:15 18:18 Delay

KA 892 HONGKONG (HKG) -Shanghai Pudong (PVG) 14:15 18:18 Delay Hong Kong Dragon Airlines (HAD)

MU 702 HONGKONG (HKG)- Shanghai Pudong (PVG) 14:55 18:37 Delay China Eastern Airlines (CES)

KA 874 HONGKONG (HKG)- Shanghai Pudong (PVG) 15:20 18:52 Delay Hong Kong Dragon Airlines (HAD)

CX 6858 HONGKONG (HKG)- Shanghai Pudong (PVG) 15:20 18:52 Delay

FM 810 HONGKONG (HKG)- Shanghai Pudong (PVG) 15:30 19:25 Delay Shanghai Airlines (CSH)

MU 504 HONGKONG (HKG)- Shanghai Pudong (PVG) 16:10 19:36 Delay China Eastern Airlines (CES)

KA 800 HONGKONG (HKG)- Shanghai Pudong (PVG) 16:25 Delay Hong Kong Dragon Airlines (HAD)

CX 6830 HONGKONG (HKG) -Shanghai Pudong (PVG) 16:25 Delay

MU 728 HONGKONG (HKG) - Shanghai Pudong (PVG) 16:30 Delay China Eastern Airlines (CES)

KA 890 HONGKONG (HKG) -Shanghai Pudong (PVG) 17:15 Delay Hong Kong Dragon Airlines (HAD)

CX 6862 HONGKONG (HKG)-Shanghai Pudong (PVG) 17:15 Delay

KA 834 HONGKONG (HKG) -Shanghai Pudong (PVG) 17:45 Delay Hong Kong Dragon Airlines (HAD)

CX 6846 HONGKONG (HKG)-Shanghai Pudong (PVG) 17:45 Delay

MU 506 HONGKONG (HKG)-Shanghai Pudong (PVG) 18:05 Delay China Eastern Airlines (CES)

CX 6868 HONGKONG (HKG)-Shanghai Pudong (PVG) 18:15 Delay

[taxexile]

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Shanghai, with ambitions to become a global transport and business hub, mysteriously closed its international airport for two hours on Friday, apparently because of a military exercise.

Outbound flights were delayed while flights into the east coast city were diverted to other airports, said an official at Shanghai Pudong International Airport's air command centre. The closure was not publicly advertised ahead of time.

"It was closed for two hours. The airspace control was ordered by the state. It is not the airport's problem," the official said by telephone.

Asked the reason, the official said the closure was on the orders of the Central Military Commission, adding: "It is a state secret." He did not give his name.

A passenger flight and a cargo flight from Japan Airlines (JAL) left Japan for Shanghai around noon on Friday but had to turn back after notice that China was conducting a military exercise, a spokesman for Tokyo's Narita International Airport said.

The spokesman could not say if this was the first such case but added, "Usually, we are given advanced notice when countries are conducting a military exercise."

JAL officials were unavailable for comment.

Hong Kong media also said the closure was due to a military exercise.

A Shanghai city government spokeswoman confirmed the closure, but gave no reason for it.

China frequently delays or cancels flights because of bad weather, and sometimes closes airports temporarily for security reasons if top officials are passing through. But major restrictions at Pudong International Airport, serving the country's biggest city, are rare.

(Additional reporting by Chisa Fujioka in Tokyo and Judy Hua in Hong Kong)

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

[raro]

Flights resumed about 6 pm local time, first domestic and later international.

As for my father, he left with a twelve hours delay at 2 am and had a pleasant stay at the airport lounge.

Funny it is, last time he went to Shanghai his suitcase followed some four weeks later...

[j_cheung]

Last time I experienced such a drastic move was near the height of the last Taiwan Straits crisis of '95 & '96 where independence rhetoric and sabre rattling rose to new highs. At the time, our family was travelling from HK to Fuzhou, the province capitol of Fujian province ... just across from Taiwan. As we neared the city, the pilot suddenly veered a 180 degree turn & calmly announced that there had been a "slight" delay & we were heading to Guangzhou! After a hour & half, he abruptly did another 180 & cheerfully proclaimed that the delay was over & we're on our way back! My father cynically snapped, "Perhaps, they called off the invasion today ..."

Stranger things had happened there than in the LoS ...