China, Airbus join for better traffic management

BEIJING - China's Air Traffic Management Bureau and Airbus have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to cooperate on air traffic management (ATM) in an effort to reduce emissions and address the country's frequent flight delays.

The MOU, which covers air transportation, capacity and efficiency, will see four projects start this year -- the first focusing on "air traffic flow management," the second on "airport collaborative decision making," the third on assessing capacity at Chengdu Airport, and the fourth on improving the performance of landing systems at Beijing Capital International Airport, according to an Airbus statement.

These projects are expected to help China modernize its ATM system so as to reduce carbon emissions and ease flight delays.

The modernization of ATM systems will save some 13 billion liters of fuel per year globally, reduce carbon emissions by 29 million tonnes, as well as ease delays by four million hours, the statement said.

China has seen steady growth in demand for passenger jets in recent years, and the country has risen to become the world's second-largest civil aviation market after the United States, but its poor punctuality record has prompted widespread grumbles among passengers.

Survey results released in July by airport information site FlightStats showed Beijing Capital International Airport and Shanghai Pudong International Airport came at the bottom of 35 airports across the world in June in terms of punctuality.