Shanghai Pudong Airport Punished Again for Flight Delays

Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) has been banned from adding new flights and routes for the second time, for nearly 40 percent of flights leaving the airport were delayed in September.

Only 64.56 percent of departures from the Shanghai Pudong airport left on time in September, ranking second from the bottom among 48 Chinese major airports, according to figures from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

China's aviation regulator said Friday that it will withhold approvals of new air routes, chartered services and additional flights at Tianjin Binhai International Airport (TSN), Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) and Shenyang Taoxian International Airport (SHE) for November, due to major flight delays in September 2015.

According to data released by the CAAC, 48 major airports in China registered an average on-time departure performance of 78.16 percent in September, climbing 10.35 percentage points year on year.

However, all the above three airports delivered less than 70 percent of their flights from the departure gates in September, ranked dead last for on-time departures among the country's 48 major airports.

Tianjin airport was even ranked at the bottom of the list with only 63.48 percent on-time departures in last month, which has also been punished for the second time.

Shanghai Pudong airport and Shenyang airport in Northeast China were the second- and third-worst for delays, the CAAC said.

The aviation authority imposed the new flight freeze, blocking any additional flights in and out of Tianjin, Shanghai Pudong and Shenyang airports and during next month, the aviation watchdog said Friday in a notice.

Earlier this month, the CAAC punished Shanghai Pudong airport, Tianjin airport and Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport (HGH) from adding flights including charters and applications for new routes in October, due to their poor flight punctuality in August.