Airlines Begin to Implement Summer/Autumn Timetable
Civil airlines in China have begun to fly according to the summer/autumn timetable set for the period from March 25 to October 28. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), when examining flight plans submitted by domestic airlines, says it will continue to control the total number of domestic flights while decontrolling and encouraging direct inter-provincial lines or direct lines to China's western regions.
According to this year's summer/autumn timetable, there will be altogether 16,415 flights per week, 700 flights per week more than that of 2000 winter/2001 spring. The additional flights include direct inter-provincial lines and the 98 flights every week on such newly opened lines as Guiyang-Lijiang.
Meanwhile, China Eastern has added its Shanghai-Beijing-Shanghai flights to 25 per day and Shanghai-Hong Kong-Shanghai flights to 16 per day. In daytime there is at least one flight every hour to make taking planes as convenient as taking buses.