On the morning of May 1st, a Shandong Airlines flight was delayed for more than 12 hours before reaching Guiyang, causing concern among passengers. In the afternoon of the same day, Shandong Airlines issued a statement on the situation and offered an apology to the affected travelers.
Currently, mainland China is in the midst of the May Day holiday (May 1st to 7th). According to a post by the Weibo weather blogger “Chinese Weather Enthusiast,” on the eve of the holiday, Shandong Airlines flight SC8041 took off from Dalian at 5:00 pm on April 30th, with a scheduled layover in Jinan at 6:20 pm and arrival in Guiyang at 9:55 pm. However, due to weather conditions, the flight did not reach Guiyang until 10:17 am on May 1st, causing a delay of over 12 hours and drawing attention.
Flight information for SC8041 shows that the flight was planned to depart from Dalian Zhou Shui Zi Airport, make a layover at Jinan Yaoqiang Airport, and finally arrive at Guiyang Longdongbao Airport. However, the flight had to divert and land at Linyi Qiyang International Airport, Nanjing Lukou International Airport, and Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport along the way.
In the afternoon of May 1st, the official Weibo account of Shandong Airlines released a statement regarding the incident. The statement explained that on April 30th, flight SC8041 had to divert to Linyi due to weather conditions after taking off from Dalian. After taking off from Linyi and being unable to detour due to weather conditions, the flight had to divert to Nanjing, and finally arrived in Jinan at 2:00 am on May 1st. The flight then departed from Jinan at 2:52 am, but had to divert to Chongqing due to sudden low clouds at the Guiyang airport not meeting landing standards. After waiting for the weather to improve, the flight finally arrived in Guiyang at 10:17 am. Shandong Airlines expressed their apologies for the inconvenience caused to passengers due to flight diversions and delays.
According to the statement, on April 30th, multiple inbound flights to Jinan Airport had to divert due to severe convective weather conditions.
Reports from mainland Chinese media earlier indicated that on April 30th, strong north winds struck various regions such as Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, Henan, Shandong, and more. Local areas even experienced extreme weather phenomena including sandstorms and hail, causing inconvenience to the public during travel.
Online videos showed many trees being blown down in different areas, roofs, solar panels, and windows being blown off, and vehicles being damaged. Netizens exclaimed, “This strong wind is terrifying,” “The morning was fine, but violent winds in the afternoon, it’s overwhelming,” and “A once-in-a-century occurrence!”
For further reading:
On the eve of May Day, strong winds and sandstorms sweep across many parts of China
After earthquakes, Qingchuan in Sichuan is hit by hail, causing damage to houses and farmland.