CAAC plans to reduce flight times

Tuesday February 24, 2009 CAAC plans to reduce every flight time by 3 min. and will control capacity increases for Chinese carriers in an effort to lift them out of their current financial difficulties, according to ATW Daily News.
According to Vice Minister Wang Changshun, the 3-min. reduction can save airlines about CNY9 billion ($1.31 billion) annually. In addition, the regulator is committed to optimizing 36 air routes to shorten flight distance by a combined 2,800 km., which will cut costs further.
Chinese airlines posted a CNY7.7 billion net loss through the first 11 months of 2008 and the three big carriers of Air China, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines all expect to report 2008 losses.
Meantime, CAAC is tightening its control over capacity increases by restricting the establishment of domestic bases in order to prevent blind expansion. It complained that some airlines have an irrational allocation of domestic bases and said it will encourage airlines to set up bases in China's northeast and northwest regions.
Carriers now must satisfy six conditions in order to get approval to open a new base. These conditions focus on an individual airline's safety record, fleet size, financial performance, ontime performance, payment of financial obligations and legal compliance. Carriers previously were permitted to establish domestic bases without CAAC permission.
 

Source: Transportweekly