China aims to maintain flights on-time rate over 80% in 2019

BEIJING - China's civil aviation industry is working to maintain an on-time rate of more than 80 percent for civil flights during 2019, according to civil aviation authorities Tuesday.

For the country's major airports, authorities aim to reach an on-time performance rate of 85 percent, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

China's on-time flight rate hit 80.13 percent last year, an 8.46 percent year-on-year increase and a record high since 2010.

In 2019, the CAAC will continue to facilitate airport's on-time performance, paperless boarding and in-flight Wi-Fi connectivity.

By the end of 2018, China had a total of 235 certified transport airports, which served more than 90 percent of the country's prefecture-level cities.

China is now the world's second-largest civil aviation market. The country handled 610 million air passenger trips in 2018 and the figure is expected to reach 680 million this year.