Flight delays provoke tensions in Yunnan airport

The chaos between passengers and staff members at the Changshui airport lasted for 3 days starting from Thursday, a peak returning time for travellers as the new year's holiday ended. Controversies included the service capacity of the 6-month old airport, and the way the airlines dealt with the incidents. The airport traffic resumed on Sunday.

Tensions escalated after 30 hours of flight delays. Angry passengers stormed check-in counters... small bickering often led to fist fights.

In the departure lounge, travellers expressed their rage by sitting on the service counter, and yelling out their demands.

Poor treatment of the passengers was another reason for protest.

Cheng Peng, stranded passenger at Changshui Airport, said, "It's been over 30 hours, but there've been no responses from the airport. No one has told us when we can board."

A lack of timely reports on the flight information deepened people's frustration.

She Zhengwei, stranded passenger at Changshui Airport, said, "There have been no broadcasted announcements since I arrived here. We didn't know about the delay. It's been over four hours."

Questioning lasted overnight, with no satisfying answer received. There was even not enough water and food for those stranded.

With no hotels arranged, sleeping on the floor was the only choice. Excessive flights, the airport said, was one of the reasons for the delays.

Wang Xin, Vice Director of Yunnan Airport Group, said, "We have over 900 flights today, but our capacity is around 700. The number of passengers is far beyond what we can handle."

So why did the airport arrange such a schedule when it knew the outcome was unavoidable?

Wang Xin said, "We had to allow the flights delayed yesterday to take off, or else the combined number of delayed flights would have been even larger. "

The heavy fog was to blame for the delayed and cancelled flights. And it was even harder for them to make arrangements, the airport explained, when a collective anger broke out.