Article from SCMP. Link below text.
Not exactly stellar reporting, I know, but the story does illuminate a pervasive set of problems that are not going to go away...
Emergency on smog-diverted Chinese plane as two airports refuse landing
Chris Luo
Pilots of a Beijing-bound China Eastern Airlines flight declared an emergency when smog forced the plane to divert and it was refused permission to land by two alternative airports.
Flight MU750 from Asahikawa, Japan was unable to land in Beijing on Saturday evening due to low visibility caused by heavy air pollution that had enveloped the city.
The pilots of the plane, an Airbus A321 carrying nearly 200 passengers, then requested to divert to Jinan and Qingdao airports in neighbouring Shandong province. But the request was denied by local air control, who said the airports could not allow the plane to land unless its fuel was running low, Changjiang Commercial News reported.
The plane was then forced to keep circling in the air east of Beijing. It was finally permitted to land at Qingdao Liuting International Airport when its fuel ran low after circling in the air for 40 minutes. The pilots declared an emergency as the plane flew towards Qingdao, the report said.
Flight tracking application shows MU750 circled in the air east of Beijing before it was permitted to land at Qingdao airport. When the plane finally touched the ground at Qingdao airport after midnight, it only had enough fuel to sustain flying for another half an hour, the report said.
The report cited aviation experts as saying “the amount wouldn’t be enough for it to make a second landing attempt”.
Qingdao airport did not respond to enquires for comment.
China Eastern Airlines denied any abnormal situation had occurred during the flight when contacted by the South China Morning Post on Wednesday.
A spokesman confirmed the plane was diverted because of “dramatic weather conditions” but said “the cabin crew closely following standard procedures” and “made landing safely at a nearby alternative airport.”
The spokesman said that he was not authorised to elaborate on other details mentioned in the report.
The report has drawn criticism from members of the public who accused air traffic control of neglecting passenger safety.
The aviation channel of news portal Sina.com.cn said Jinan and Qingdao airports would only grant MU750 landing permission on the condition it was running low on fuel because they were already fully occupied at the time. Under civil aviation procedure they could only accept landing requests from flights that were running low on petrol.
Heavy air pollution in Beijing and its surrounding areas severely disrupted flights to and from the city at the weekend when the city’s Air Quality Index surged to 470, or “severely polluted” on Saturday night.
Visibility was down to 200 metres at Beijing Capital International Airport, making it difficult for aircraft to land safely and forcing several flights to land at nearby alternative airports.
Some 60 flights to Beijing were diverted in a two-hour period from 11pm on Saturday.
Aeroflot flight 200 from Moscow circled for 90 minutes above Beijing as it waited for a cold front to disperse smog and raise visibility levels. Meanwhile, Hainan Airlines flight 7602 from Shanghai circled over Beijing for 90 minutes on Saturday night waiting for the smog to disperse and eventually had to divert to Jinan when its fuel ran low.
Emergency on smog-diverted Chinese plane as two airports refuse landing | South China Morning Post