BEIJING, July 26 -- An orange alert for massive flight delays in eastern and central China issued on Saturday morning has been lifted, the country's airline regulator announced in the evening.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said traffic capacity has restored in two airports in Shanghai and other airports affected by the alert are returning to normal.

The alert, the first of its kind, said the airspace in east China would be quite busy on Saturday, affecting at least 23 airports in Shanghai, Nanjing, Nanchang, Hefei, Zhengzhou and Wenzhou.

The CAAC said in an earlier statement that "rainstorms, routine military exercises and other comprehensive factors" were behind widespread flight delays and cancellations.