Beijing to shut airport for Games ceremony
Carol Chung
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At least 12 flights between Hong Kong and Beijing will be canceled or delayed due to an unprecedented five-hour closure of airspace over the capital on August 8 as part of security measures for the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Beijing Capital International Airport will be closed from 7pm to midnight, according to Air China (Hong Kong) assistant general manager Zhao Jian. Zhao told The Standard it is the first such closure in Chinese aviation history. "There will be some impact since the daily passenger flow at the capital airport is several hundreds of thousands," Zhao said. He said the Hong Kong office received the information from its Beijing head office late last month and had contacted all passengers involved. "Some canceled their bookings, some have been offered other flights, while those who could not change their schedules because they had connecting flights have been offered accommodation in Beijing," he added. Visitors to the opening ceremony will not be affected, Zhao added, since they will take morning or afternoon flights. Air China will cancel two Beijing-bound flights and two Hong Kong-bound flights, while Dragon Air will cancel six flights - three from Hong Kong and three heading for Hong Kong. A 3pm Dragon Air flight from Hong Kong will leave at 2.45pm instead. Cathay Pacific Airways will delay Flight CX312 for five hours to 9.45pm. Beijing Capital International Airport assistant general manager Huang Gang confirmed the closure was part of Olympic security measures. The closure may also affect flight schedules at Shanghai airport as many flights chartered for the Olympic Games will stop there. Sources quoted by the China News Agency said at least 20 flights from Shanghai to Beijing will be postponed or canceled. According to Shanghai-based airline China Eastern, online bookings for Beijing- bound flights between 3pm and 10pm on August 8 have been closed. China Eastern said passengers will be contacted immediately if it receives any change of schedule information.
