Headed to Beijing by Air? Don't Be Surprised if You Stop Over in Hohhot

Update, Mar 19, 7:15pm: China's Civil Aviation Administration has just announced four Beijing flights will land first in other cities beginning tomorrow, March 10. For flight details see this comment below.

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International flights operated by Chinese airlines may soon be diverted to airports outside of Beijing such as Tianjin, Hohhot, Taiyuan, and Shijiazhuang, according to an article posted this afternoon by reliable Chinese news source Caixin. The post said that flights operated by international airlines would not be affected.

Caixin's report cites inside sources at several Chinese airports that say they have been alerted that they would soon begin receiving flights from Beijing. However, when journalists called ground customer service at the airports, none said that they had yet to receive notice of the change yet.

Meanwhile, a Tianjin Airport customer service agent reached by BTV's btime.com said that they had been notified, but have not been informed which flights specifically. The source also indicated that passengers would be notified in advance. BTV's report said a source at Taiyuan Airport also confirmed the news and that they have preparations in place to begin receiving flights.

However, officials at Beijing Capital Airport told the Beijing Daily Wednesday evening that they have released no such information and that all international flights and flights from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan are continuing to land in Beijing.

To date, we have not found this news on any other news channels nor via the official site of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

If it does in fact happen, the move appears to be a method of relieving some of the pressure that Beijing is encountering from the 30-plus daily international flights currently being routed to one terminal at Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA).

Due to the necessity of health checks, a new baggage disinfection and claiming process, and myriad other quarantine measures, travelers have been reporting crowded terminals and waits of several hours to deplane before they are sent to the expo center in Shunyi, where they are sent to their destinations or to quarantine at designated government facilities.

Oddly, Zheng Nan, vice director of the Public Security Bureau for BCIA, did not mention anything about flight diversion plans at today’s city government press conference on the COVID-19 situation. He did however speak at length about passenger flow.

Whatever may be happening, it hasn't taken effect yet: A brief check of arrivals at flight tracking website Flightstats.com shows all scheduled flights to have landed in Beijing as usual today. As of press time, the United Airlines Flight UA7478 operated by Air China arrived at BCIA at 7.50pm.

This news was originally hinted at last night when Beijing Traffic Radio host Yang Zhimei, who regularly posts travel-related content on her Weibo account, said that beginning today (Mar 18), all international flights headed for Beijing would first stop in nearby satellite cities to screen ill passengers before then flying on to Beijing.

The post implied that only symptomatic people would be taken off the flight; though it is possible that those sitting near any person thought to be sick would also be removed. 

The post was deleted at approximately 10.40pm, and Yang has not posted anything else since that time.

Were you or anyone you know on a flight that arrived today or scheduled to fly tomorrow? Let us know in the comments below.

READ: Beijing Investigates Traveler Who Disguised Illness on Flight to Beijing

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