China to establish 280,000-square-kilometre restricted airspace around Beijing

An aviation notice reviewed by Reuters describes a Special Restricted Area centred on Beijing, about 600 kilometres across and extending from the ground to unlimited altitude. Its area exceeds 280,000 square kilometres and includes Beijing, Tianjin, much of Hebei and parts of Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shandong, Liaoning and the Bohai Sea.

Reuters estimated from the geographic boundary that the area contains close to 100 million people and dozens of civilian and military airfields. Those are the news agency's rough geographic estimates, not official Chinese population or airport totals.

The listed exemptions include airline operations, approved business flights, and military, customs, police, firefighting and rescue flights. Authorized aircraft must still follow pre-approved flight plans, obtain clearance before deviations, maintain radio contact and use electronic surveillance and identification equipment.

Reuters verified the notice in the US Federal Aviation Administration's public NOTAM system. Beijing Daily also confirmed that a Capital No-Fly Zone would take effect on September 20, without specifying its size. The measure follows a June crash in which a light sport aircraft struck Beijing's CITIC Tower, killing the pilot and injuring 13 people.