Air quality in Beijing is a problem at the best of times. When it gets bad you are lucky to see 100 metres on occasion. Yesterday in Beijing it was so bad that poor visibility delayed about 280 domestic and international flights serving Beijing.

This news came from the capital’s airport and follows several days of heavy air pollution. According to a statement from the airport visibility in Beijing was reduced to as little as 50m. The flight delays were not limited to Beijing. It was at least fog that caused delays from the main airport in Chengdu. According to Xinhua reports 105 flight were delayed stranding more than 10 000 passengers.

If you are interested in reading about air quality measurements regarding Beijing there is a twitter feed that you can check out. It does not make pleasant reading at the moment. The current readout is saying air quality is very unhealthy.

Air quality is a big issue and it is something China is keen to address at the upcoming climate change summit in Copenhagen.

I remember each time I have flown in or out of the Beijing international airport that nearly on every occasion visibility was very poor. When compared to what you could see when taking off or landing at other airports around the world it is very different. The airplane would very quickly dissapear into the pollution haze.