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March 12, 2008 |
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CHINA EASTERN: Ranked First In On-time Performance China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited ranked first last year in on-time performance among the three domestic airline giants, China's General Administration of Civil Aviation told Xinhua News Agency. In 2007, 84.32% of the flights of China Eastern arrived and left as scheduled. "The staff members of our company have made great efforts to provide a punctual, safe flight experience for our customers," Cao Jianxiong, general manager of China Eastern, told Xinhua. Mr. Cao added that the company had set up emergency handling centers at Shanghai's Hongqiao and Pudong airports to ease the pressure of flight delays caused by bad weather and other emergencies. The other top two domestic carriers are Air China and China Southern Airlines, Xinhua says. According to the report, the CAAC conducted an informal passenger-feedback meeting about the 16 largest domestic carriers and China Eastern received the highest rating for last year. The issues that passengers were most concerned about were being kept informed about flight delays and insufficient space between rows of seats on aircraft. As living standards in China rise, people are paying more attention to having a comfortable flight experience, the CAAC told Xinhua. Official figures showed that the annual flights in China rose from 896,000 in 2003 to 1.62 million in 2007, up more than 15% year on year, Xinhua relates. However, flight delays have long troubled passengers in China. The new measuring method of on-time flights will come into effect on March 30, 2008, to replace the old one, in a bid to improve the accuracy and authenticity of the statistics, the CAAC further told Xinhua. The new method was designed in light of a research since the end of 2006 and in accordance with suggestions and opinions given by major domestic airlines and air traffic management bureaus nationwide, Xinhua reports. According to Xinhua, the CAAC also announced at a national civil aviation conference in January that it would take various measures to reduce flight delays and improve the airline services this year, including: -- A two-year block on the expansion or establishment of branches of airlines reported for poor services after delays or overbooking, or luggage losses; and -- The cancellation of services that rank among the bottom 20 on the punctuality lists at Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou or other Olympic-related city airports, and those that have a punctuality rate below 50%. About China Eastern Headquartered in Shanghai, China, China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited's -- http://www.ce-air.com -- principal activity is operation of domestic and international commercial air transportation. The Group also is involved in the common aircraft industry. Other activities include general aviation, air catering, advertisement, import and export, equipment manufacturing, real estate, hotel business, finance and training. The fleet includes more than 60 large and medium size airplanes, Airbus and Boeing mostly. Its operation centering from Shanghai to the whole People's Republic of China and linking to Asia, Europe, America and Australia. On April 28, 2006, Fitch Ratings downgraded China Eastern's foreign currency and local currency issuer default ratings to B+ from BB-. Fitch said the outlook on the IDRs is stable. Xinhua Far East China Ratings gave the company a BB+ issuer credit rating. |
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