Due to poor visibility after thick smog covered Beijing on Friday, the capital's international airport cancelled over 220 flights.

The cancellations of the flights was officially announced by the Beijing Capital International Airport via its website. The statement said that 12  additional flights were delayed for the same reason. The number of cancelled flights was about 12 percent of the scheduled departure.

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The smog alert status was raised to orange after the level of hazardous particulate matter (PM2.5) reached 503 micrograms per cubic meters on Friday afternoon in Tiananmen Square. This is lower compared with the morning's PM2.5 level at 647.

The next day, smog levels partially went down, based on the data released by the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center. Saturday morning has a reading of 340 and went a little lower in midday at 318 micrograms per cubic meter.

Environmental officials have revealed that Beijing was "severely" polluted, while Shanghai was "heavily" polluted. A level exceeding 100 is already deemed not safe for sensitive people like children, elderly and people with lung problems. Levels of more than 150, 200 and 300 are considered unhealthy, very unhealthy and hazardous, respectively. But the World Health Organization continually warns that people should be exposed to no more than 25 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter in 24 hours.

With the cold season on its way, the National Meteorological Center expects this will help clear of the sky and diffuse the dense smog.

In the month of December alone, the local government has issued two red alert status which limits the use of cars in the city, suspends classes and stops or slows down production in factories.

TagsBeijing Air Quality, flights cancelled, Beijing International Airport