Civil aviation operations across the Pearl River Delta came to a near-standstill on 26 July as Typhoon Noul made landfall near Huizhou. Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, China’s third-busiest hub, scrapped 377 of its scheduled 1,250 movements by 10 a.m., while neighbouring Shenzhen Bao’an Airport reported a 62 per cent flight-cancellation rate, grounding 374 departures. Major airlines—including China Southern, China Eastern, Hainan Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines—activated fee-free rebooking and refund policies. Flight-tracking platform VariFlight recorded average departure delays exceeding four hours, highlighting the scale of operational disruption. Both airports triggered Level II emergency plans on Saturday night, sealing jet bridges, towing parked aircraft to leeward stands and deploying sandbags around low-lying electrical vaults. The airports’ joint command centre said no runway flooding had been reported, but warned of residual gusts that could delay the resumption of wide-body operations. International corporates with manufacturing plants in the Greater Bay Area scrambled to divert key personnel via Changsha and Wuhan, the nearest unaffected airports with direct high-speed rail links back to Guangdong. Logistics firms warned that e-commerce fulfilment times for cross-border parcels could lengthen by 24–48 hours. Guangdong’s Department of Commerce advised investors attending next week’s South China International Industry Fair in Shenzhen to monitor airline notices closely and consider virtual participation options if flight slots remain constrained.
