The Taoxian International Airport in northeast China's Liaoning Province reopened on December 4 after being forced to close for five hours because of heavy snowfall.

Flight CJ609 to Qingdao, a coastal city in east China's Shandong Province was the first to take off at 11:00 am.

Seven domestic flights in all were delayed including an international flight. Three domestic airliners left the airport just as this story was being dispatched.

The heavy snowfall started at 21:00 yesterday and continued for 10 hours. After the snow had stopped, snow-clearing operations began which cleared the runway within two hours.