<br>Air force can help combat crowded skies, experts say (2)

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Air force can help combat crowded skies, experts say (2)

By Zhao Lei (China Daily) 10:28, August 07, 2013

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He said there is huge interest in airspace designation and management, hence the air force is reluctant to relax its control.

Complaints from air passengers about long delays at major airports have grown in recent years.

"I hate to travel by air in summer," said Wang Yuying, a marketing manager at a Beijing software company. "More than half of my flights are delayed and, in June, when I flew with Air China to Shenzhen, I had to sit in the cabin and wait four hours before the plane was allowed to take off."

It is far from uncommon these days to see irritated passengers openly venting their anger at ground crew.

During the past two months, at least eight protests were staged in front of boarding gates after passengers were told their flights had been postponed or canceled, China National Radio reported.

In two incidents, passengers attacked airline employees, the report said.

The negative attitude toward airlines and airports intensified after the two biggest airports in China were given low flight punctuality scores by a United States-based data provider on air travel.

Beijing Capital International Airport, which has the most passenger traffic in China, ranked bottom of 35 major international airports in terms of delays and cancellations, FlightStats said in its latest report, released early in July.

Shanghai Pudong International Airport, the busiest airport in China's eastern and coastal region, ranked the second-worst performing airfield on the list.

Nearly 82 percent of flights that departed from Beijing airport in June were delayed, with 71 percent in Shanghai. By contrast, only 5 percent of flights from Tokyo International Airport, often referred to as Haneda, failed to depart on time, the report said.