China’s big air show opened with a glitzy aerial display of its fighters, but crowds couldn’t see much in the smog

• China’s hyped air show kicked off with performances from its aerobatics team on Tuesday.
• But the grand display was dampened by smog filling the skies over Zhuhai, Guangdong.
• The hazy opening comes as China tries to shed the reputation of its cities being heavily polluted.

China’s biggest air exhibition opened on Tuesday to smoggy skies obscuring an intricate aerobatics performance meant to display the country’s aircraft to the world.

The Bayi aerobatics team, a People’s Liberation Army Air Force team that flies J-10 fighters, took off just after 10 a.m. local time in Zhuhai, Guangdong, where the China Airshow 2024 is being held.

But as crowds gathered on the tarmac to watch, low visibility made it difficult to make out the fighters and their colored smoke trails.

At times, the J-10s’ shapes could barely be seen as they tore through the murky skies.

According to Accuweather, air quality in Zhuhai that morning was “poor” — which indicates a high level of pollution — as the city experienced higher levels of nitrogen dioxide.

Poor weather continued to conceal aircraft flypasts an hour after the event opened, muddying displays from China’s 150-foot-long YY-20 jet refueler and its Red Falcon team, which flies the Hongdu JL-8 fighter.

In contrast, footage of rehearsals shows that the skies were far clearer in the days before the airshow proper, which runs from November 12 to 17.

Attendees may get another chance to watch the aerobatics display under better conditions, with the flying teams scheduled to perform on each day of the conference.

The national air show, the only one in the country supported by the central government, is meant to be a grand showcase of its latest aircraft, including the J-35A.

The medium-sized stealth aircraft is a land-based version of the J-35, a fifth-generation fighter launched from aircraft carriers, and is largely seen as a rival to Lockheed Martin’s F-35.

In its first official public appearance, the J-35A flew briefly at the opening in Zhuhai, climbing into the hazy sky.

Commercial craft like China’s domestically produced COMAC C919 airliner are also featured in the show.

COMAC revealed at the event that it’s rebranding its regional jet, the ARJ21, to the C909 in a marketing move to increase name recognition among Western competitors like the Boeing 737.

The smoggy opening also comes as China has sought to shed the reputation of its cities as being wracked by air pollution. Over the last decade, China has pushed hard to curb coal burning in favor of green energy.

Its “war on pollution” has reduced smog levels by 41% from 2013 to 2022, but the country still has far to go, said researchers from the University of Chicago in a report published in August.

“Despite tremendous progress over the past few years, 99.9% of China’s 1.4 billion people still continue to live in areas where the annual average particulate pollution level exceeds the WHO guideline,” the report said.

The University of Chicago researchers estimated that in Guangdong, where the air show is being held, residents would gain 1.4 years in life expectancy if pollution levels there were aligned with WHO standards.