Economy

Beijing-Shanghai flights punctuality improves

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-05-27 16:34

GUANGZHOU -- A total of 72.9 percent of scheduled flights from Beijing to Shanghai have been on time over the past week, a senior aviation official said Friday.

Related readings:  EU carbon rule may hurt China's aviation sector  Carbon rule may clip wings of China's aviation sector  Civil aviation industry profits down 27.2% in March

However, only 46.5 percent of Beijing-Shanghai flights were on time during the first seven months of 2010, Xia Xinghua, vice-minister of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said at a national aviation meeting held in Guangzhou, southern Guangdong province.

Xia said only 15.6 percent of the Beijing-Shanghai flights had been delayed for more than two hours as of May 21, down 4.4 percent from the Jan-July period last year, due to joint efforts made by the country's air traffic management bureaus, airliners and airports.

He noted that even though the recent punctuality rate was a marked improvement, it was still below the international average of 80 percent.