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China's airlines face growing pains

zPassengers board a Hainan Airlines plane on the tarmac of Beijing Capital Airport in this photo from June. China's airlines have invested heavily in airports, airplanes and improved safety, but many passengers complain that service has been neglected. PHOTO: AFP

Minutes before a flight packed with 50 passengers was scheduled to take off from China's Guangzhou city to Beijing, blackouts twice plunged the cabin into darkness. There was no air.

"We were very worried. That was very abnormal, but they didn't offer a good explanation," said Yan Hong, a nurse traveling with her sister, daughter and niece.

With Yan's sister as their leader, the passengers demanded to be allowed off the plane on the runway, but the cabin crew refused.

Elderly female passengers tried to wrestle their way off while a male flight attendant threatened to hit Yan's sister. After a 10-hour standoff, police allowed the passengers to disembark.

"What upset us most was the airline staff's attitude," said Yan, who along with the others spent the night at a hotel paid for by the airline.

They flew out on another airline the next day, refusing to travel on the same carrier.

That flight in May was one of about 3,000 on an average day in China, but it epitomizes the growing pains of China's aviation industry as the country marches from train-dominated to plane-centered mass transportation.

In the rush to cash in on the craze for flying, airlines have put effort and money into building airports, buying and maintaining airplanes, and improving safety, but customers and state media complain that not enough attention is paid to service.

Among the problems, about one in five flights nationwide is delayed or canceled, according to the government-run Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

"Passengers' complaints to airlines about flight delays have become one of the main problems facing China's aviation industry," said the Beijing Morning Post.

In one high-profile case, a group of passengers on a flight that was delayed for hours were so angry they staged a protest outside the airline's office, eventually forcing the company to compensate them.

Uncaring, rude staff and unwillingness to either put passengers on another airline's flight or give them refunds are also major causes for complaint, the Post said.

In a statement, CAAC said it recognized problems in "quality of staff," "infrastructure and equipment" as well as "management standards."

"China's civil aviation [industry] is currently making efforts to resolve problems in these three areas," it said.
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