Beijing's international airport resumed normal operation in the wee hours of Saturday morning after being shut down for five hours for the security of Friday night's Olympic opening ceremony, an aviation official said.

The airport, one of the world's busiest, was reopened right after Friday midnight when the special plane of Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who was invited to attend the opening ceremony along with his wife, took off, said Wen Xuezheng, an official in charge of air traffic management at the airport during the Games.

About 17 minutes after Fukuda's plane, the special plane for French President Nicolas Sarkozy left the airport, which was followed by two arrivals, he said.

The Beijing international airport was shut down as of 7 p.m. on Friday, one hour before the more than 3-hour Olympic opening ceremony started. The Olympic gala was attended by more than 80 state leaders and royals, including Chinese President Hu Jintao, US President George W. Bush and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Wen said the shutdown affected 30 departure flights on Friday. In the day, the airport handled a total of 794 departures and arrivals.

During the six hours after its reopening, the airport received 76 flights, he said.

Late last month, Civil Aviation Administration of China deputy administrator Yang Guoqing said around 260,000 passengers on 1,500 flights would be passing through the airport each day after August 1, setting new records in its history.

(Xinhua News Agency August 9, 2008)