(Photo : Beijing CapitalAirport)

Flight delay is one of the typical problems encountered by many avian travelers in China. It happens so regularly and lengthy that passengers become irate when inquiring in check-in desks and heated arguments between clients and staff has been a normal scene.

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Last year, according to official figures, 75% of China's total flights was punctual. But private surveys say otherwise. Recent report accounted that at Beijing's airport, just 18 percent of flights left on time in June, the lowest rate compared to other 35 airports worldwide. Shanghai followed by a rate of 29 percent. And eight out of the ten worst performing airlines belong to the mainland Chinese carriers.

As they attempt to meet flourishing passenger demand, the challenge for domestic carriers is emphasized by persistent delays and they face a couple of venerable problems that are hard to fix. The dominant military's tight control of airspace, which takes up almost 80 percent of the country's airspace for civilian traffic, is the primal and greatest dilemma.

Not unlike in the U.S. and many other countries where a great airspace is given to civilian traffic, planes are regularly delayed when the military shuts down civilian airspace to make way for air drills in China. Large storms during summer contribute to the delays also and pilots claim that they're usually not allowed to detour around storms into restricted military areas. In that case, planes wait for clearance before taking off.

Air traffic control is the second problem. Some industry experts say that air traffic control is becoming overly cautious after Chinese regulators were dazed in to giving extra eye on safety after a series of serious accidents at Domestic Chinese carriers in 1990s.

Great separation distances are also criticized by Pilots. With the usual 5 kilometers in other countries when it comes to landings at airports, China restricts landings to 16 kilometers interval. Chinese avian authorities also require a 610 meters distance vertically, doubled the distance in other airports. 

When it comes to landing, pilots are required to descend to specific airspeeds and levels not unlike in other countries where descends of planes are continuous.

Chinese avian authorities should reconsider strategies with their airports. They should keep in mind that being vigilant to prevent grave dangers from taking place is not bad at all, but there are a lot of ways to do it without sacrificing the quality of service.

Tagschina airport