A drone caused an airport in Chengdu to close for 80 minutes and 55 flights could not operate normally, according to a report on Caixin.com.

The report citing a statement issued by the Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport indicated that staff members of the control tower of the Southwest Air Traffic Management Bureau found on their radar that an unmanned aerial vehicle was flying over runways at the same height of ordinary aircraft near the airport around 6.20 p.m. For safety reasons, the control tower closed the east runway of the airport.

When police came to investigate the incident, they did not find any UAVs nearby. When the control tower found no drones nearby, they reopen the runway and flights operation became normal.

The airport said that this is the first time that a drone has affected normal operation of flights.

Drones threaten aviation security and their management has become a worldwide problem. According to a report in the Washington Post, there have been on average around 100 reports per month mentioning that pilots have come across with drones as recorded by the Federal Aviation Administration in 2015. The frequency is much higher than that in 2014.

The Administration of Civil Aviation of China has regulated that for the sake of safety of carrier aviation flights, drones are banned from flying over the air space of civil airports without permission from the local administration.

By the end of 2015, the China aviation administration worked out a regulation to manage drones according to different categories.

Unveiled documents show that China has become a major civilian drone developer and producer in the world. According to incomplete statistics, at least 400 parties in China develop, manufacture and sell drones.