The heavy snow that is blanketing the southern and eastern regions of the country severely affected the Spring Festival transport peak with hundreds of flights, trains and buses delayed or canceled on Thursday.

Workers remove snow from an aircraft at Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport on Thursday. [Xinhua]

Snow and sleet have swept Shanghai and Chongqing municipalities, as well as Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Yunnan provinces, causing continuous traffic problems, shutting down airports, and canceling or delaying other transport services.

Airports and national airlines in Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan and Hangzhou were severely affected.

"Work to remove ice and snow delayed 529 flights at Shanghai's Pudong and Hongqiao airports, while 183 planes were freed from snow by 5 pm," a female officer surnamed Tian at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport said on Thursday.

Xiaoshan airport in Hangzhou, the capital of neighboring Zhejiang province, was closed for seven hours until 11:50 am on Thursday due to heavy snowfalls. More than 400 flights at the airport were canceled. In parts of the province, the snow was more than 22 centimeters deep.

Chongqing's Zhoubai Airport was also closed on Thursday morning because of ice on the runway.

Trains were also delayed or canceled.

"More than 20 trains have been delayed and three trains were canceled at three train stations in Shanghai due to the bad weather. About 600 passengers on canceled lines have been transferred to road transport and some available train services," Dong Bilian, a spokeswoman for Shanghai Railway Station, said on Thursday.

Dong added that a backup plan had been prepared for the bad weather, with temporary underground waiting areas provided for passengers who were waiting for delayed or canceled trains.

"The train was supposed to leave at 8 am, but we never even got on board due to the heavy snow. We can do nothing but wait till the train services run on time again," said Qian Bin, a male migrant worker from Anhui province.

Qian, his wife and two children had waited in the station for more than three hours for a train home on Thursday.