China has suspended applications for new airlines until 2010 to prevent the world’s second- biggest aviation industry from “growing too fast.” Pilots and other workers will also have lower overtime limits to slow airlines’ expansion plans, the General Administration of Civil Aviation said on its website.
China Southern Airlines Co. and other carriers cut flights starting Wednesday at Beijing’s airport, the nation’s busiest, to ease congestion and ensure adequate breaks for pilots. The country’s passenger and cargo traffic grew 19.5 percent in the first half of the year, faster than the government’s target, fueled by the country’s economic growth.
Chinese commercial airlines have an accident rate of 0.29 per million flying hours, compared with a global average of 0.7, according to the aviation agency.
The agency will still support plans to set up air-cargo ventures that mainly use foreign pilots and fly at night, it said.
