The Chinese government has ordered its officials to purchase discounted tickets when on business trips as part of the ongoing drive against excessive government spending.

The new rules do not allow government officials to travel with full-priced tickets. It also mandated domestic airlines to give at least 12 percent discounts on the prices of tickets bought by the government.

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Government workers are also mandated to take domestic airlines, when possible, even when going on official trips outside of China. The new rule, released on Tuesday, was mandated by the Civil Administration of China and the Ministry of Finance.

However, if there are no direct international flights from local carriers, officials are told to take a flight going to the nearest country and transfer to a foreign airline that will take them to their final destination abroad, the new rule stated.

The administration of President Xi Jinping has been exerting efforts to cut down spending that are deemed wasteful. The move is aimed at getting back the positive image of the Chinese government, which has been confronted several times by claims that government officials have used taxpayers' money despite the slow growth in the economy.

According to the chief of the Communist party's disciplinary body, the cost of spending for official meetings and trips abroad including vehicle acquisitions have dropped last year when compared to the previous year.

The new rules on government officials' air travel will take effect starting June 1^st this year.

Meanwhile, industry sources said that the new rules on cheap tickets may be impossible to strictly enforce due to the availability of flights and the need to travel abroad.

China Eastern Airlines representative, Wang Jian, said that it would be difficult to determine how broad the impact would be to the industry. He added that this would be gauged depending on how strict the new mandate would be implemented.

TagsChina Eastern Airlines, Civil Administration of China, Ministry of Finance