Passengers in East and Central China will face mass flight delays until Aug 15 after 12 airports were ordered to reduce scheduled flights by 25 percent due to large-scale People's Liberation Army drills, News.cnr.cn confirmed on Tuesday, citing officials from the Civil Administration of China.

Affected cities include Shanghai, where Hongqiao Airport and Pudong International, are among the country's busiest terminals, together with other East China cities of Nanjing, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Jinan, Qingdao and Central China's Wuhan and Zhengzhou. Most of the affected airports are located in economically prosperous parts of the country.

According to a People's Daily report last Wednesday, PLA land forces will hold 10 inter-regional drills over the next three months.

The first maneuver began a week ago in Northwest China's Gansu province, involving Chengdu Military Region's Air Defense Brigade stationed in Tibet autonomous region.

Ten rocket artilleries and air defense artilleries from Nanjing, Shenyang, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chengdu and Jinan will take part in the three-month live fire drills, said People's Daily.