Heavy snow has stranded more than 1,000 passengers scheduled on seven flights since early Friday in an airport in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The Yining Airport of the Yining City in north Xinjiang's Kazak Autonomous Prefecture of Ili was shut down in the morning as snow blanketed its runways, said an executive with the airport management.

The delayed flights, all scheduled to fly from Yining City to Urumqi, the regional capital, would not take off until early hours of Saturday, he said. "The airport is now busy cleaning the runways."

Yining reported a snowfall of eight centimeters on its road in the evening. It is still snowing heavily now.