Punctuality improves at airports

Aviation network continuing to expand across the country

Nearly three-fourths of passenger flights in September landed or departed on time, an official from the Civil Aviation Administration of China said on Tuesday, representing a significant improvement over the previous months.

Airports across the Chinese mainland handled 436,588 flights last month - including a record 15,323 on Sept 29, the day before the National Day holiday - with an overall punctuality rate of 73 percent, Zhang Chunzhi, Party chief of the administration's operation and monitoring center, said at a news conference.

In August, 55 percent of flights were on time, while in July the rate was only 50 percent, figures from the administration showed.

The authority said 53 percent of the delays were caused by weather, and almost 27 percent by airspace congestion. Air-traffic control accounted for 7.8 percent of the delays.

The top three airlines for punctuality were Air Chang'an, Air Jiangxi and Joy Air, while the most punctual airports were Xishuangbanna in Yunnan province, Hailaar in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Xining in Qinghai province.

A goal of 76 percent punctuality was set by the administration in 2017, according to Feng Zhenglin, head of the CAAC. In 2016, the flight punctuality rate was 76.7 percent.

"In five years, the market for civil aviation has increased rapidly with the rising economy," Zhang said.

The country's airports handled an average 12,790 flights a day in 2016, up from 8,973 in 2012.

The aviation network has been expanded, with 88.5 percent of cities and 76.5 percent of counties now within 100 kilometers of an airport, said Ji Yuan, deputy director of the administration's development and planning department.

Last year, China had 3,794 fixed air routes, an increase of 54 percent from 2012. China's airlines fly to 145 cities in 56 countries on a fixed schedule.

China's civil aviation has been ranked second in size for 12 years, behind the United States.

Beijing Capital International Airport handled 94 million passenger trips in 2016, and has been ranked as the second-busiest in the world for seven years.

From August 2010 to September, China's civil aviation industry had 54 million hours of fatality-free flight, said Tang Weibin, head of the administration's safety office.

luowangshu@chinadaily.com.cn