China airports resume normal traffic

Traffic at some Chinese airports, including Xiamen Airport in southeast China, are returning to normal after the nation's aviation regulator warned of massive flight delays earlier on Sunday.

The Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC) issued a red alert for massive flight delays at Xiamen Airport earlier on Sunday.

The CAAC said earlier that one of the runways at the airport would be closed for landing and takeoff for two hours starting from 10 am local time on Sunday due to busy airspace activities during the period.

Since afternoon, the flight delay alert was lifted for the airport and traffic was resuming, said a CAAC spokesman.

Meanwhile, the alerts issued for other airports have also been lifted and traffic are returning to normal, the spokesman said.

The flight delays have come amid stormy weather that hit many regions in China on Sunday. As of 6 pm, 55 inbound and outbound flights at Beijing Capital International Airport were canceled with 126 others delayed. Meanwhile, 90 flights at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport were canceled with 249 others delayed.

Major cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen in south China also saw some flight delays on Sunday, the spokesman said.

The CAAC continued to issue an orange alert for flight delays for Monday in Shanghai, which is expected to see traffic down by 36 percent. The neighboring Hangzhou city is also expected to see flight delays.

In China, the four colors of blue, yellow, orange and red are used to mark increasing severity of flight delays and cancellations, with red indicating an extremely severe situation.

The CAAC said in an earlier statement that "rainstorms, routine military exercises and other comprehensive factors" were behind widespread flight delays and cancellations.