Nearly half of China flight delays blamed on management
Nearly half of hold-ups attributed to problems with management due to increasing air traffic
Management problems were blamed yesterday for 42 per cent of delays to commercial flights on the mainland as public discontent about unreliability mounts.
Air traffic control measures accounted for 26 per cent of delays, bad weather about 21 per cent and military restrictions 7 per cent, China News Service said, quoting official figures.
The report also said that civil aviation utilises 34 per cent of mainland skies, while the military uses 25 per cent. No flights are reportedly allowed in the remaining 41 per cent of airspace.
It was recently revealed that some mainland airports, particularly in Beijing and Shanghai, had the world's worst record for delays. Authorities attributed it to a rapid growth in the number of flights in recent years.
They said this had put additional strain on management and security at airports.
In the past five years, the number of flights arriving and departing from Beijing Capital International Airport increased by nearly 29 per cent, and those out of Shanghai Pudong and Guangzhou Baiyun airports were up 36 and 33 per cent, respectively.
Wang Liang, executive deputy director of the Shanghai Circulation Economics Institute, said that poor management - not only by airline companies, but also airports and air traffic control (ATC) authorities - was mainly to blame for the massive flight delays on the mainland.