A NUMBER of new airways - the highways of the sky - between Asia and Europe have been agreed, of which the most important is over China. The eventual result will be faster flights.
Talks began in 1983 when the International Air Transport Association (IATA) proposed to China a new airway over its territory.
IATA subsequently believed that both its own proposal, and an alternate proposal from China were unsuitable, mainly because the airway was over a lot of terrain higher than 2,500 metres, which is awkward for international safety regulations.
Eventually, a suitable alterative was agreed late in 1992. The airway runs over Kunming, up to Urumqi and then joins an established international link between Urumqi and Alma-Ata in Kazakhstan.
It is quicker than the current fastest route from Hongkong to Europe - over Beijing and Siberia - operated at present only by Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS).
However, the new airway still has a few drawbacks.