A series of flights in China were canceled after a catastrophic plane crash

Bloomberg news agency, citing flight data provider VariFlight, reported that most of the flights that were canceled on March 22 were flights connecting Beijing with Shanghai. This is already one of the busiest domestic flight routes in the world.

Specifically, out of 35 flights from Hongqiao Airport (Shanghai) to Beijing on March 22, only 2 flights operated in the morning and 3 others took off later on the same day. All remaining flights have been cancelled.

In the opposite direction, only 5 out of 34 domestic flights from Beijing to central Shanghai have scheduled operations.

The mass cancellations occurred after the tragic plane crash on the afternoon of March 21. Accordingly, the Boeing 737-800 NG of China Eastern Airlines departing from Kunming city (capital of Yunnan province) to Guangzhou city (capital of Guangdong province) lost contact while flying over the city. Wuzhou Street in Guangxi Province. At the time of the accident, there were 132 people on board, including 123 passengers and 9 crew members.

According to the Guangxi emergency management agency, the downed plane caused a big fire in the mountains. All people on board the plane were killed. It was the first fatal air crash in China since 2010.

According to Xinhua, Boeing’s representative office in China said that the US aircraft manufacturer is cooperating with China Eastern Airlines to assist in the investigation of this accident.

Some pictures at the scene where the plane crashed:

Video: The plane crashed vertically (Source: Daily Mail):