Despite hefty transport investment, China’s flight delays are here to stay – for now

China’s chunyun or “spring migration” gives rise to the greatest mass movement of people on earth. In the 40 days around the Lunar New Year, some 2.9 billion trips are made using public transport networks. Indeed, in the first 10 days of the holiday this year, 74 million trips were made per day on average.

Such a surge in travel volume puts tremendous pressure on the nation’s transport infrastructure, leading to enormous congestion and delays at a time when they are least desirable. At large airports such as Shanghai’s Hongqiao and Shenzhen’s Baoan, close to half of all flights were delayed by more than 30 minutes.

Even at the best performing airports, such as Kunming ( 昆明 ) and Qingdao (青島), about 30 per cent of flights were delayed. Newspaper headlines such as “Homebound passengers trapped on road” or “Emotional passengers go on riot at airports after delays” are common.

Is there any way of addressing this annual transport chaos? In view of China’s slowing economy, would it be a good idea to increase investment in key transport infrastructure such as rail and airports?

Of course, China is not alone when it comes to congestion. In the US, at Chicago’s O’Hare airport, for example, more than 28 per cent of all flights were delayed in 2014, with an average departure delay of nearly an hour. It is easy to understand why the US Department of Transportation has identified reducing congestion as its No 2 management challenge, second only to aviation safety.

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The obvious solution to the congestion problem is to build more capacity. More than 50 civil airports have been constructed in China since 2006, increasing the total number to about 200 by last year. Another 30 airports are being built, and 60 are being expanded.