THE reason for the stern warning was a visit to Taiwan by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a long-time advocate of Taiwanese independence and critic of the Chinese Community Party, prompting China to conduct the largest military drills ever in the region in response.
Live fire military protests will last for at least four days, with airlines quick to take evasive action to avoid any potential mid-air catastrophes.
Cathay Pacific has reportedly taken steps to avoid problematic airspace, adding that some of its routes would likely see added flying time to cater for the changes, while Korean Air confirmed it would be re-routing some flights to South Asia in order to avoid Taiwanese airspace altogether.
Military exercises also caused havoc at Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport, with around 30 flights cancelled on the first day of Chinese protests, with similar cancellation volumes expected over all four days of the airspace closure.
The airport also had to fend off social media rumours that it was about to be attacked by missiles from China’s air force, taking to its own Twitter account to shoot down the suggestions.
The modified Boeing 737 jet that Pelosi arrived in also made history this week, becoming the most tracked flight of all time via FlightRadar24.com, subsequently causing its app to crash.
