China plans to build 97 new airports by 2020. China’s General Administration of Civil Aviation said the $89 billion undertaking over the next 12 years will bring the total number of civilian airports in China to 244, up from 147 in 2006.

The new airports will be built in five main regions of the country — north, east, south-central, south-western and north-western.

When the expansion is complete, it would mean that 82 percent of China’s population — expected to hit 1.45 billion people by 2020 — would be living within 100km — or a 90-minute drive — of an airport.

Currently, about 60% of the popularion lives with this range.
China’s air passenger volume rose by 15.3% to 51.9 million in the third quarter of 2007, and air freight volume increased by 11.5% to 1.05 million tons.
Source: CargoNews Asia and
Bloomberg

The China Daily — so you can take it as official — reports China has ordered domestic airlines to reduce delays and improve service around August’s Beijing Olympics or face penalties.

Among other possible penalties one that could really hurt is that airlines that fail to improve performance could be barred from expanding services for two years. Scrutiny will be intensified from July to September nd airlines have fair warning of what is expected.

It is, in truth, asking an awful lot.

China’s airlines and airports have struggled with soaring demand for passenger and cargo services amid the country’s economic boom. Despite increases in airline fleets and new airports, air traffic corridors have become clogged around major cities and hubs.

The situation is not helped by the fact that total control of the air rests with the PLA which, perhaps understandably, has a tendency to regard the skies as being an arena in which they allow domestic airlines to operate. And sometimes, quite arbitarily, can withdraw that permission for a period of time which can range from minutes to even more than a day.

Then there are the airports.

Beijing’s overcrowded airport, the world’s 9th busiest, will open a new US$4.6 billion terminal and runway this year to cope with the demand. And, in truth, it will only just be enough for the Olympics.

The Civil Aviation Administration has ordered airlines to stop overbooking flights and keep one or two planes on standby at six key airports in case of delays. Which means, practically be definition, that the airlines are going have to turn customers away. Which will be very difficult.

To make it even more difficult the aviation regulator has also extended a penalty measure introduced last year allowing it to cancel flights that are regularly delayed.

It looks like being a difficult summer for the airlines.
Source: Canadian Press

Air China will begin using the newly constructed Terminal 3 of the Beijing Capital Airport in March 2008. Which will give plenty of time for all the small problems — no new airport has ever opened without problems — in plenty of time for the Olympic Games for which it will be the main supporting building.

The one million square-meter Terminal 3 project also includes a 3,800-meter-long by 60-meter-wide runway, which will accommodate the Airbus A380, the largest aircraft in the world. Terminal 3 will double the current passenger capacity of the Beijing Capital Airport by 2015.

Mrs. Lan Zhang, senior Vice President of Air China, said, ‘Air China is proud to be the flagship tenant in Beijing’s fabulous new Terminal 3. Our familiar customers will benefit from the move to this new facility, and our new passengers joining for the 2008 Olympic Games will also be pleased with their state-of-the-art experience here in Terminal 3.’

The new Li-Tian highway will run north of the airport, while the airport railway connects the city to the airport. Passengers may take the city railway from Dongzhimen to the airport transportation center, located at the south side of Terminal 3. The airport will also provide 7,000 parking spaces next to the Terminal 3 building.

Terminal 3 will serve Air China — China’s flagship air carrier — and its alliance airline companies, as well as foreign airlines. The project took three years and nine months to complete. It covers an area of approximately 1 million square meters.
Source: Forbes and People’s Daily Online

Air China, the nation’s largest airlines company, expects the new schedule that the Beijing Capital International Airport will adopt in 2008 will help the air carrier gain an even bigger market share in the airport.

Zhang Lan, vice president of Air China, said that from next April, the Capital Airport will add 200 flights everyday to its schedule and will put aside 60% of them for Air China.

Moreover, Air China will join hands with the Star Alliance to integrate resources to enhance the utilization of the T3 terminal of the Capital Airport, which will start operation before the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Ms. Zhang forecasts that the natural growth of China’s air transport market will reach 17.91% in 2008, while the coming Olympics will bring additional increase of 5% to 6%. Now, Air China is busy in clinching key customers for the game.

When joining Star Alliance on December 12, 2007, Air China expects to get vigorous support from the global largest airlines union, which covers 853 cities in 157 countries — about 26% of the world’s airlines market.

However, Air China still has problems with inflight crew and punctuality with complaints reaching an unacceptable level. This is something Ms. Zhang says is being attended to.
Source: Trading Markets

Newly inaugurated air services between Tokyo’s Haneda Airport (shown here) and Shanghai’s Hongqiao Airport are the second international air route from Haneda Airport, which generally has been dedicated to domestic routes.

The new service provides four round-trip flights a day, operated by Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways, China Eastern Airlines and Shanghai Airlines.

Narita is Tokyo’s international airport but is located far from central Tokyo (1 hour by the fastest train) and in a different prefecture. It opened in 1978 after riots which reached war-like proportions.
Haneda is technically called Tokyo International Airport and is located in Tokyo proper. It is the busiest airport in Japan and the fourth-busiest in the world, even though it handles very little international traffic.
Hongqiao is Shanghai’s second airport.
Pudong is Shanghai’s international airport.

Both Haneda and Hongqiao are closer to their respective city centers than the main international airports for Tokyo and Shanghai. So a link between these two airports would be great for passengers provided the timing of the flights was right. Gate to gate, a one-way trip to central Shanghai from central Tokyo using the new air route takes about four hours — about an hour less than it takes when using Narita and Shanghai’s Pudong international airports.

Trouble is Haneda has few spare arrival and departure slots.

Thus, current flight schedules on the route are not convenient enough for businesspeople on a theoretical day trip to Shanghai. Even if they depart from Haneda Airport on the day’s first flight at 9:10 a.m., they could only stay in central Shanghai for up to an hour because the last flight heading for Haneda departs at 1:30 p.m.

By contrast, the last flight from Pudong to Narita departs at 5:05 p.m., with about 14 round-trip flights a day on the route. If early-morning and late-night flights on the route become possible, it may boost demand for other international services from Haneda.
Source: Daily Yomuri Online