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Shanghai-Beijing flights see improving punctuality rate as airspace freed up

By Yang Jian | September 6, 2013, Friday | Online Edition

MORE flights between Shanghai and Beijing have been on time since China’s civil aviation authority freed up airspace over the capital late last month, local air traffic authorities said today.

The punctuality rate for flights to and from the Beijing Capital International Airport has been improved by 4 percent to about 80 percent, according to the Air Traffic Control Bureau, which is under the Civil Aviation Administration of China. The Shanghai-Beijing route, which has at least one flight take off every hour, is the busiest route at the Beijing airport.

Since Wednesday, some 60 flights from around the country that would normally pass over Beijing while flying between other cities are being rerouted to avoid the capital’s airspace.

Congestion has been cited as a major reason for delays on flights between Shanghai and Beijing — also China’s busiest flight route.

The routes have been changed on the 60 flights that would have passed over Beijing every day to accommodate the 1,200 daily flights to and from Beijing Capital International Airport, bureau officials said.

However, the change of routes also has impacted fuel consumption, with diverted jets expected to require 10 percent more.

For instance, flights between Shenyang, capital of the northeastern Liaoning Province, to Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi Province in the northwest previously flew over Beijing because it was the shortest route, but now face a longer journey.

If effective in Beijing, the policy may be rolled out in cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou, the official added.

 

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