CHINA’S civil aviation watchdog has vowed to implement tougher penalties for airlines involved in flight delays.

    Li Jiaxiang said Thursday that a six-month crackdown would be launched, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) announced on its website. The administration also said it would increase penalities on related parties responsible for delays.

    Domestic airlines will receive internal warnings if their on-time flight rankings are in the bottom 20 of all airlines, or if flight delays occur more than half the time, the administration said, according to The Beijing News.

    If the delays were caused by air traffic control, airports, fueling delays or other causes outside airlines’ control, the parties responsible would be penalized following an official investigation.

    In the case of delays or poor service that trigger serious protests by passengers, airlines will risk losing all their flight slots in the current season and will lose the right to apply for flight slots in the next season, The Beijing News added.

    The stricter rules were announced amid rising public complaints about flight delays.

    A recent survey by FlightStats, a U.S.-based airport statistics tracker, said Beijing and Shanghai airports had the worst records for on-time departures and arrivals among 35 major international airports. Hong Kong came in 29th.

    “It’s hard to blame an airport or an airline alone when flight delays happen,” said Cui Kai of the Beijing Capital International Airport news center. “The CAAC controls the order of takeoffs and landings. The military controls the airspace. And there’s also the impact of the weather.”

    Cui confirmed that Beijing Capital International Airport had been notified of CAAC’s stricter penalties for flight delays.

    In response, the airport is mobilizing its resources to ensure its facilities are in good order, and that service teams are available to guide stranded travellers and minimize complaints and violent incidents.

    There has been an increase in violent incidents related to flight delays in China.

    On July 6, three Shanghai passengers angry about a delay attacked ground service workers. They were arrested and fined.

    “The key reason for frequent flight delays is excessive air traffic,” said Professor Fu Song, vice dean of the school of aerospace at Tsinghua University. “Airlines should decrease the number of flights.”

    (SD-Agencies)