Almost 120 flights
have been warned and two have been canceled since the launch in
June of a campaign to reduce delays at Beijing Capital
International Airport.
Organized by the
Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the campaign
produces a list every 10 days of the 20 most-delayed
flights.
All those that
appear on the list are given a warning, and if they appear twice
they are canceled.
The campaign aims to
prevent large-scale flight delays next August when Beijing hosts
the 2008 Olympic Games, the CAAC said in a news release on its
website yesterday.
To date, nearly 120
flights have been given warnings, while Air China and China Eastern
have each had a flight canceled.
The CAAC has also
cut the number of daily flights from the airport by 92, the release
said.
An unnamed CAAC
official was quoted by the news release as saying the measure will
free-up airspace and therefore reduce delays.
Eighteen of the
country's airports, including Beijing, Shanghai Hongqiao, Chengdu,
Shenzhen, Dalian and Urumqi, are currently operating at maximum
capacity, the CAAC said.
In Beijing, airspace
is particularly limited, with the gaps between flights during peak
times being less than a minute.
Also, during July
and August, thunderstorms, hailstorms and gale-force winds are
common, which can cause further delays.
According to the
CAAC, thunderstorms have this week alone delayed some 10,000
passengers traveling through Capital airport. On Tuesday, four
flights were delayed for 10 hours or more.
(China Daily
August 3, 2007)
