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Irate passengers create a ruckus at the airport in May after their flight was delayed. Photo: SCMP Pictures

China punishes Shenzhen airport over flight delays, but PLA air force remains in control of the skies

Authorities ban new flights at Shenzhen hub in bid to ensure more planes take off and land on time, as punctuality rate falls to an all-time low

The aviation regulator is stepping up efforts to address the mainland's notorious flight delays - by punishing the airports and censuring airlines.

As flight on-time rates dropped to a decade-low, the Civil Aviation Administration slapped unprecedented penalties on Shenzhen Baoan International Airport for its mishandling of large-scale flight delays over the past months that triggered several incidents with "significant social impact".

[The Shenzhen airport flight ban] would serve as a warning to other airports

QI QI, AVIATION EXPERT 

It would stop accepting new flights, routes and charters for the airport - the mainland's fifth busiest hub - until the end of the year, the authority said on its website on Monday.

It also reprimanded Shenzhen Airlines and China United Airlines for a series of incidents caused by flight delays at the Shenzhen airport in May, including one in which a passenger opened a plane's emergency door after another fainted while stuck on board for four hours waiting for take-off.

Investigators looking into the incidents found a lack of coordination and communication to deal with flight delays at the airport.

The regulator's move came just two days after it announced a three-hour shutdown of Beijing's two airports on September 3 for a military parade to commemorate the end of the second world war. The shutdown is expected to disrupt hundreds of flights.

READ MORE: China’s airports and airlines lead the world in flight delays: US survey

Flight punctuality on the mainland declined for the fourth consecutive year to just over 68 per cent last year - the lowest rate since the data was made publicly available in 2006, according to a report the regulator published in May.

Mark Clarkson, business development director at OAG Aviation, a leading industry data and analytics provider, said the Shenzhen airport flight ban was an "unusual" and "harsh" punishment.

Guangzhou Civil Aviation College professor Qi Qi said: "The regulator is punishing whom it can. Whatever falls outside its power, there is nothing it can do.

"The regulator has been ramping up efforts to reduce flight delays … [The Shenzhen airport flight ban] would serve as a warning to other airports."

The flight ban would affect Shenzhen airport's traffic and hurt its income, especially that derived from chartered flights, Qi said, but it was unlikely to significantly impact the major airlines.

According to the regulator's report in May, air traffic control was to blame for one in every four of last year's 937,000 delayed flights. Airlines were to blame 26.4 per cent of the time, while bad weather accounted for 24.3 per cent of the delays.

The aviation authority has vowed to improve flight punctuality, but only an estimated 20 per cent of mainland airspace is open for civilian use. The rest is tightly controlled by the air force, which has been conducting frequent drills as China flexes its military muscle amid tension with other nations over territorial disputes.

"There will only be more and bigger drills. That will become the norm," said retired People's Liberation Army general Xu Guangyu .

Beijing's two airports will close from 9.30am to 12.30pm on September 3 for the military parade to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the end of the second world war.

OAG told the that for the three-hour duration, there were 269 scheduled flights between Beijing and 30 airports - 151 were arrivals and 118 departures.

"I cannot recall any airport closure of such a length of time for any reason of this nature," Clarkson said. "There would be flight cancellations and significant delays in the hours before and after the period."

One in every five of the flights is international and 22 foreign carriers, including Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific, would be affected. International long-haul operators whose aircraft were sent in from elsewhere would be particularly affected, Clarkson said.

A Cathay Pacific spokesperson said the airline was closely monitoring the situation and would review its flight schedules accordingly. Hong Kong Airlines said it planned to reschedule its two flights on that day.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Airport punished in move to cut flight delays
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