CAAC offering no second chances in fight against delays

CAAC implemented its toughest measures yet to combat domestic flight delays, announcing that it will suspend an airline's right to operate a particular flight for one year if the carrier is found to be at fault for a single delay exceeding 4 hr.

According to the regulator, the regulation is targeted mainly at domestic airlines operating at Beijing, Shanghai Pudong, Shanghai Hongqiao and Guangzhou. These four airports handle 3,500 aircraft movements daily, accounting for half the country's total.

CAAC also will rank individual domestic flights' ontime performance every 15 days. Airlines operating those ranking in the bottom 20 and with an ontime performance below 50% will be warned. If a flight is flagged twice in one month and the carrier is deemed to be at fault, it will lose the flight.

The regulation entered effect this month and appears to have had an impact already. Average ontime performance at Beijing was 76.5% through March 10, up 1.8 points from February.