On Friday I'm booked on PVG-HKG with Spring Airlines. Last week, I noticed the same afternoon flights on Feb 8 and Feb 9 were cancelled, but otherwise they seem pretty punctual.

However, last time I flew PVG-HKG was with Hong Kong Arlines and in spite of an almost ontime arrival of the incoming aircraft, we got delayed by almost two hours out of PVG. And in mid-November, I flew MNL-PVG, we got delayed by 9 hours, because ATC would not give clearance, due to "weather", but I later found out, that it was probably due to military exercises in the area.

I read however somewhere, that there is military exercises in February, so it might affect flights out of PVG. Was that probably the reason for the cancellation on Feb 8+9 and can I expect more delays/cancellations this week putting my flight at jeopardy?

And another observation at PVG - is it me, or is ATC totally inefficient here? I noticed that sometimes there is separation of 4-5 mins of departing flights even in situations with no arriving aircraft. Also, it seems sometimes use of runways is totally illogical. Flights going to T2 use the runway at the other side, while there seems to be plenty of available space at the closest runway. Very odd.

Thx,

Military exercises and spontaneous drills will likely increase due to the political situation in the East and South China seas so further delays are actually very probable.

There are major airbases in the Nanjing military region covering Shanghai so the airports worst affected by these military drills are usually PVG, SHA, HGH and NKG.

Old recipe is to favor early morning flights to and from these airports. Personally I've switched to HSR almost completely and will also use trains to and from Hong Kong once the new Kowloon terminal opens.

Military controls the airspace in China and only allows a fraction of it to be used for civilian flights. It's causing delays as the number of flights increases dramatically. Have a search and see

"And another observation at PVG - is it me, or is ATC totally inefficient here? I noticed that sometimes there is separation of 4-5 mins of departing flights even in situations with no arriving aircraft. Also, it seems sometimes use of runways is totally illogical. Flights going to T2 use the runway at the other side, while there seems to be plenty of available space at the closest runway. Very odd."
- they know things that you don't know or see.

Chinese ATC does space out landing and taking off, but not to 5-minute intervals. However, the East China air corridor is already quite jammed up. In addition, military usages (for training, drills or for responses in the East China Sea ADIZ) have priority.