Beijing Smog Disrupts Flights

Beijing was hit with a thick smog on Tuesday that reduced visibility to as low as 200m in some areas, while official data judged the city’s air quality as “good”. The smog resulted in 155 flights being delayed or cancelled at Beijing’s Capital International Airport, according to its website. Among the services grounded were those operated by Lufthansa and Air France from Tokyo and Paris respectively.

Due to the flight disruption, thousands of passengers were left stranded. However, airlines were able to resume normal schedules by 10am local time. Despite this, the air quality in the Chinese capital was still listed as “fair”.

According to figures from the US embassy, however, pollution in the Chinese capital was so bad that it was off the index. The embassy has its own pollution measuring system, and posted on Twitter that the concentration of the most dangerous and smallest particles in the air didn’t even land on the index for a majority of the morning.

The US air quality system measures 2.5 micrometre or smaller particles (PM2.5) in the air, which are considered the most risky for health. The pollution system rates anything over 150 as unhealthy, more than 200 as very unhealthy, and more than 300 as hazardous. The index reading on Tuesday morning, however, breached the 500 limit, when it stops putting out figures. The Beijing Environmental Bureau bases its pollution system on particles of 10 micrometres or bigger (PM10).

The discrepancy of air quality readings between the US embassy and bureau happens quite frequently, causing public anger as more and more residents become concerned for their health. In response to this concern, authorities said last week that they would begin publishing hourly updates of the PM2.5 measure before the Lunar New Year, which is due to start on January 23. However, they haven’t started publishing the results on the hour yet.

This isn’t a good time for smog to be delaying or cancelling transport services in China. The country is beginning its peak travel period for the Spring Festival, which is the world’s largest migrant event. However, smog also cancelled flights in the city last month, with Beijing’s Capital International Airport reporting more than 125 delays and over 200 cancellations.

Beijing is considered one of the most polluted cities around the globe by international organisations, including the United Nations. This is mainly due to its growing consumption of energy, most of which is still derived by coal. However, car usage is also a major factor in the capital’s pollution. Authorities in the city said last month that they met their “blue sky” days target for last year, with 274 days of “grade one or two” air quality, which is up 22 days from 2010. However, state-run China Daily says that only 20% of the country’s cities would have a satisfactory air quality rating if they used the PM2.5 measure as the main standard, which is much lower than the current 80%.