KUNMING, Dec. 15 -- More than 8,700 passengers were stranded as snowy weather and icy temperature disrupted air traffic at an airport in south China's Yunnan Province on Sunday.

Operators of the Kunming Changshui International Airport said 152 flights had been canceled as of 9 p.m.. Snow began to affect the airport at 9 a.m..

The airport has motivated workers to de-ice planes, which they said was a time-consuming process that led to backlog flights.