China's army air force, the country's airspace regulator, is to introduce five measures to ease delayed departures for civilian aviation.
In 2010, the average time of delay for domestic flights was one hour. Reform of the management of low-altitude airspace is being promoted, while related regulations and standards are under discussion now.
In the next five years, the air force will open six military airports for civilian use, or share them with civil aviation. As of today, the air force has already opened 63 military airports and modified 380 airspaces that were used for military training in order to support national economic construction and the development of civil aviation.
Reasons for flight delays
A survey conducted by the Civil Aviation Administration of China in 2010 shows that, among all the civilian aircraft flight delay cases, 42.4% had to do with the operation and management of airline companies, 26.1% were the result of inefficiency in air traffic control, while bad weather accounts for 20.9%.
Seven percent of flight delays were caused by military activities and other issues, including airport security, caused 3.7%.
According to statistics provided by the national lab on airspace technology, there is 9.98 million square kilometers of usable airspace in China, in which 32% is being used for civilian flights.
Pilot reform in several flight control divisions
In 2010, a low-altitude airspace management reform was approved by the State Council and the Central Military Commission. In the same year, Changchun and Guangzhou became the first two flight control divisions that carried out a pilot reform.
The People's Liberation Army Air Force decided to expand the reform to more places including Shenyang and six other divisions. After the pilot reform, related regulations will be made and a formal reform will take place possibly in 2012.
5 measures to ease flight delays
"These years, the number of flight delay cases has been increasing considerably. Air traffic jams are frequently seen both at metropolis air hubs in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, or at airports in second-tier cities such as Dalian, Qingdao, Xiamen, Chengdu, and Xi'an," said the head of the national lab on airspace technology.
The air force has announced five measures to tackle the problem. To minimize the influence of air traffic control and military activities to flight delays within the lowest level, the air force plans to shift flights from peak times to less busy hours, shorten the interval between flights, and extend the daily open times of airspaces.
