All closed airports reopen

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Source: CCTV.com | 01-31-2008 08:30

All major airports previously closed because of snow have reopened, but bad weather is still crippling road and rail travel.

All major airports previously closed because of snow have reopened, but bad weather is still crippling road and rail travel.

With the winter storms expected to continue, authorities are advising people to postpone journeys home for the Spring Festival. Liu Yanhua has details.

With the cold front moving to southeastern areas, all airports that had been forced to close reopened on Tuesday. More than ten-thousand delayed flights will now resume to transport passengers who are eager to get home and be with family for the holidays.

In the badly-hit central provinces of Hubei and Hunan, Wuhan airports resumed services when foggy conditions let up. Changsha airport cleared ice from the runways and airplanes were permitted to take off.

The airports in Nanchang, Nanjing, Guiyang, Hefei, Zhangjiajie and Changde also gradually resumed services.

The reopening of airports greatly alleviates the pressure on national transport services. But snow storms and sleet are still slowing up thousands of trucks and trains loaded with coal, food and passengers.

Railway stations in affected areas have stopped selling tickets and are giving refunds for those already sold.

Due to the closure of part of the Beijing-Zhuhai expressway, about 5,000 vehicles were stranded on the road.

But with snow clear-up efforts, the expressway is expected to reopen to traffic on Wednesday.

The Meteorological authority says severe winter weather will continue over the next three days in much of central, eastern and southern China.

Editor:Zhang Ning