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selecta · Member Joined: 24 Dec 2006 Posts: 813 Location: ORD

Between Military Maneuvers and Outdated Equipment, Travelers Face Agonizing Delays

By BRUCE STANLEY
February 16, 2007; Page B6
WSJ.com
source

HONG KONG -- As a frequent flier to Chinese cities, Philip Leung has learned to expect long delays -- like the five-hour wait he endured last July before boarding a flight from Beijing to Hong Kong. The flight, scheduled to depart at 6 p.m., was delayed in frustrating increments, and he didn't emerge from what is normally a three-hour journey until 2:30 the next morning.

"I was furious," says Mr. Leung, a Hong Kong-based consultant. "Thank God it didn't cost me a customer or contract."

What Mr. Leung didn't know is that while he was steaming in an Internet cafe, only 30% of the airspace above him was open to passenger planes -- making China one of global aviation's most restricted countries. The reason is the powerful Chinese military, which controls the nation's skies.

Shanghai's Pudong International Airport shut down for four hours one afternoon in December when China's air force ran a drill. Airports in at least three other big coastal cities that fall under the Nanjing Military Area Command also had to close, forcing the diversion or delay of hundreds of flights, both foreign and domestic.

Adding further frustration for travelers, military affairs are a state secret in China, so there is no way to predict the snap shutdowns. In the Pudong shutdown, for instance, pilots said they assumed the closure had to do with military maneuvers, but passengers weren't told why their plane had landed in an unexpected airport, raising concerns there had been a crash or other calamity. A military-run newspaper noted that the drill had been a success.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China, the official regulatory authority for civilian air travel in China, declined to respond to requests for comment.

Under the military, China's aviation authorities have been slow to adopt practices that have become standard elsewhere in the world.

Planes flying from New York to Chicago can travel at any of about 13 altitudes. China limits civilian aircraft to flying at seven altitudes, which means fewer jets can enter the sky. Cathay Pacific Airways, for example, has just four altitudes to choose from -- roughly 29,500, 33,500, 37,400, and 41,300 feet -- for its planes traveling from Hong Kong to Shanghai.

Such constraints have taken a toll as Chinese commercial aviation has boomed, fueled by deregulation of the airline industry, a prospering middle class, a surge in foreign business people seeking opportunities and a plethora of new airlines. Tourists and corporate road warriors scurrying to do deals all over China are finding themselves stuck in sometimes agonizing delays.

"I can pretty much always bank on an hour's delay, and I think I'm doing well if it's less than that," says Irishman Joe Healy, a director of engineering at Emerson Climate Technologies in Hong Kong.

Airport closures due to bad weather exacerbate the problem. Alexander Mackintosh, a partner at Ernst & Young, recalls taking a flight last month with Hong Kong Dragon Airlines, or Dragonair, that left Hong Kong for Beijing after a three-hour delay. It was minutes from its destination when the pilot abruptly turned around, on account of heavy fog, and returned to Hong Kong.

"Air traffic congestion has become a serious issue on several of our routes in China Mainland," Dragonair said in a statement. "We have been in contact with the relevant government departments in an effort to seek an improvement in the situation. "

Pilots grouse that even blue skies are no guarantee of smooth flying, because China's air force often picks the clearest days to practice. Congested corridors over the Chinese coast facing Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province, are particularly prone to military disruptions, they say -- the reason for last month's airport shutdowns.

When the limited routes into southern China get too crowded, air traffic controllers on the mainland try to slow the inflow of planes by reducing the number of altitudes available to them. Jetliners bound for China or Europe from Southeast Asia and Australia can get backed up and forced into fuel-guzzling holding patterns as a result.

Along China's western frontier, a few international flights have been pushed "right to the ragged edge" of having to break away to refuel in neighboring Kazakhstan, says one aviation expert. Japan Airlines requires its planes heading into Chinese airspace to load up with extra fuel in case of in-flight delays or diversions.

Chinese airlines flying domestic routes often postpone their departures to take on as many late-arriving passengers as possible, and China's smaller carriers have few planes in reserve to use when delays ricochet through their networks. Deng Jie, owner of a private company in Beijing, says he has taken some local flights that left as much as a day behind schedule.

"The situation has definitely gotten worse in the past two years -- progressively worse," says a foreign pilot who has flown to China for 14 years. Hong Kong's government reports a tripling in departure delays from its airport over the past three years, to 2,996 last year from 973 in 2004.

Because delays and cancellations tend to worsen throughout the day, some passengers try to beat the system by flying as early as possible. Cathay Pacific Airways has a 3:25 a.m. cargo flight from Hong Kong to Beijing that also carries as many as 100 passengers. The flight almost always leaves on time and, in spite of the ungodly hour, with most of its seats full.

With the 2008 Olympic Games looming, however, there have been signs that the generals who control China's airspace are easing up a bit. To help reduce congestion, they agreed last year to open a new corridor that trims up to 20 minutes off flight times between China and Europe. China has since authorized another new route and is considering opening a third, possibly in time for the Olympics, , IATA says.

Within the past 18 months, China's three largest cities -- Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou -- have all installed new air traffic control equipment that is "light years ahead" of what most Western countries use, according to one foreign airline executive. The new equipment enables controllers, for example, to track each plane electronically and digitally, whereas controllers formerly used a hand-written system.

China generally requires an airliner to fly with a cushion of roughly 2,000 feet of empty space between it and the next plane directly above it, and a similar cushion between it and the next plane directly below it. This is an old standard for flight safety, designed to help prevent mid-air collisions. But aviation technology has improved to the point that most countries now require a vertical cushion, or spacing between planes, of just 1,000 feet instead of 2,000 feet. China plans to change its rules and introduce 1,000-foot vertical spacing of its own on August 30, says Yan Xiaodong, a director at the North China Air Traffic Management Bureau, a regional sub-office of the CAAC. This would let up to twice as many planes fill the sky on any given air route, thus easing congestion.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China suggests it can step up work on efficiency partly because the nation's aviation safety record has improved so much in recent years. China recently hit a record 5.8 million flying hours without accidents. In another welcome sign, Chinese flag carrier Air China says it plans this year to start sending text messages to its passengers' cellphones to notify them ahead of time about any flight problems.

But right now, flying in China can be a confounding exercise. To minimize the pain, China hands advise fellow fliers to avoid traveling at the most popular times and to take only carry-on luggage in case they need to switch flights at the last minute.

Mr. Leung, the consultant, recommends seeking out a good passenger lounge.

"It's a must," he says, "in order to keep your sanity."

-Yang Zhou and Kersten Zhang contributed to this article

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