...or so claims this SCMP article, which states airport/airline delays in China is the worst in the world:
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/artic...t-comes-delays
Excerpts:
Mainland airports and airlines are the worst for on-time departures and arrivals, according to a report that tracks air travel around the world.
More worrying is that their performance actually dropped in the past six months.
Beijing and Shanghai airports rank at the bottom of 35 major international airports surveyed in terms of flight delays and cancellations, according to the latest report by FlightStats, a popular US-based data provider on air travel.
PEK was also the worst in January, with on-time departures at 29 per cent. Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport - the second worst on the list - had its on-time rate drop to 24 per cent from 38.9 per cent six months ago. Its ranking remained unchanged.
Hong Kong International Airport also reported a noticeable increase in flight delays and cancellations. Its ranking had dropped from 22 in January to 29 in June.
Serious delays were not limited to Beijing and Shanghai. None of China's provincial airports surveyed by FlightStats - including Guangzhou, Kunming , Nanjing , Chengdu, Changsha and Urumqi - could manage to get half of their flights on time.
Large national carriers such as Air China and China Southern also reported massive delays. Mainland experts attribute the problem to excessive military control of the airspace and poor urban planning.
"Nearly 80 per cent of China's airspace has been reserved for military use. In other countries, such as the US, the situation is exactly the opposite," a senior executive of Hainan Airlines said.
Zou Jianjun , of the Civil Aviation Management Institute of China, said the military was not the only reason for the delays.
Serious delays often trigger violent protests. In recent months, there have been frequent reports of angry passengers smashing airline counters and attacking ground staff in an outbursts of anger.
Many have given up air travel altogether and opted for other transport, particularly high-speed rail.
So do you find train travel (high speed train in this case) more attractive than air travel in China? Do you agree air traffic delays are so bad in China it's better off to use the train instead?