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Chinese airlines are allegedly being asked to implement measures to prevent the occurrences of flight delays as the Chinese Lunar New Year travel rush nears,
In this year's 40-day Spring Festival rush which starts on Jan. 16, 42 million trips by plane are expected. Xia Xinghua, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, disclosed that the estimated amount of Spring Festival plane trips this year is 10 percent higher than the previous year's figure during a news conference on Tuesday.
He said that at least 1.1 million seats will be provided by the country's airlines on a daily basis during the peak travel period throughout the rush.
Because of the great volume of flights during this season, maintaining a high level of punctuality poses a challenge to Chinese airlines, which have been troubled for quite some time by an unfavorable reputation.
According to the CACC, domestic flight figures may reach up to more than 62,000 each week, which is a 24 percent increase from current figures. International flights on the other hand are estimated to go up by 20 percent or as high as 9,600 each week.
Xia said that a series of actions will be undertaken to reduce flight delays, such as optimizing air routes in southwestern China and providing de-icing equipment to reduce delays during heavy snow fall. According to Xia, the flight punctuality rate can be increased anywhere from 20 to 30 percent. "Since Dec. 12, about 477 air routes of flights from 54 airports in southwest China have been modified to bring about a significant improvement in flight punctuality," Xia said.
He also pointed out that 1,122 pieces of de-icing equipment for heavy snowstorms have been allotted to airports around the country. Xia explained that new de-icing technology, which cuts de-icing time from 16 to 9 minutes, had already been introduced to 35 percent of the country's airports.
