The number of civilian flights in China increased nine per cent in 2012 adding to the already saturated air routes and experts said more has to be done to improve air traffic control, to keep up with growing demand.
Beijing Airport is the world's second busiest airport in terms of passenger numbers after Atlanta but the country's long-restricted airspace and air traffic control system are finding it difficult to play catch up.
The challenge is growing daily as travel demand increases, leading to frustration and delays for airlines passengers.
According to official statistics, 77.2 per cent of flights were punctual in 2011, hovering below the goal of a punctuality rate of at least 80 per cent.
Brian Davis, vice president of Air Transport & Regional Aerospace Asia Pacific at Honeywell Aerospace, said traffic management is key.
"We are also talking about a very wide geographical area across the country. The airports from the very large complex type of airport all the way to airports that are geographically challenged on the western side of China to the mountainous terrain or other type of consideration that must be looked at when we are evolving ATM (air traffic management) solutions across the country," explained Mr Davis.
According to Chinese government plans, 70 new airports are to be built between 2011 and 2015. Another hundred or so will be expanded or renovated.
That will bring the number of civil aviation airports in China to 230 in 2015. By then, the number of civil aviation aircraft will also increase from the current 2,800 to 4,800.
In China, the military controls 80 per cent of airspace. While the government has plans to expand the limited civilian air space, the civil aviation industry is in the mean time looking to technology and products that help in the flexible use of airspace.
By using technology and more precise calculations of flight paths, more aircraft can safely use the same amount of space.
Industry players said China can leverage international experience to accelerate its progress in air traffic management.
Mr Davis said: "I think what I see different about China is they are at a stage of the evolution that we can bring these technologies in, not repeat the historical instillations that the US and Europe have done for the last 20 years, and actually leapfrog the rest of the world by bringing in a modern technology into the country right now.
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There numbers we see here are pretty scary. The airports, the aircraft and the capacity. China seems to be crowded be it on land, sea or air. With their government controlling a huge 80% of airspace, it will only get worse if this rule isn't relaxed to cater for the balloon in traffic.
Engine trouble grounded a Dreamliner in Japan on Wednesday, its operator said, marking the third straight day of problems for Boeing's next generation plane after months of difficulties.
While none of the recent issues was thought to be serious, they spell more misery for Boeing, whose flagship plane has been beset with delays and failures, most gravely a battery problem that kept the global fleet out of the sky.
In the latest incident, one engine on a 787 would not start after 141 passengers had boarded the All Nippon Airways (ANA) plane in Yamaguchi prefecture in western Japan, bound for Tokyo.
A company spokeswoman said the pilot had called off the flight after being warned of the problem by cockpit instruments, adding the cause of the malfunction was being investigated.
The glitch came a day after a Singapore-bound Dreamliner, operated by ANA's rival Japan Airlines (JAL), had to turn back mid-flight because of a problem with the anti-icing system.
On Monday, ANA had to cancel a Tokyo-bound flight while the plane was at an airport in Fukuoka, western Japan, after instruments showed the left engine was not functioning properly.
The incidents come only weeks after JAL and ANA, the single biggest operator of 787s, put their full fleets of Dreamliners back into service following a four-month suspension over battery problems.
A global grounding order was issued in January after lithium-ion batteries overheated on two different planes, with one of them catching fire while the aircraft was parked.
Boeing admitted in April that despite months of testing it did not know the root cause of the problems, but rolled out modifications it said would ensure the issue did not recur.
Since then, Dreamliners have experienced a series of minor glitches, including a fault with an air pressure sensor.
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The problems are coming in at high frequency. First the anti-icing problem, now engine failure. It's becoming a persistent headache for the airlines and Boeing.
French aircraft maker Airbus on Tuesday said its new long-haul carrier, the A350, is scheduled to make its maiden flight on Friday after having successfully passed a series of tests.
The company said in a statement the flight would take place at 0800 GMT at the Toulouse-Blagnac airport in southwestern France, "weather conditions permitting".
Flight test teams were however carrying out a final round of controls before giving "their final green light".
Airbus hopes the 314-seater will compete with Boeing's 787 Dreamliner by being both lighter and more fuel-efficient than previous models.
The first deliveries of A350s to airlines are scheduled for the second half of 2014. So far, Airbus has received 613 firm orders for the aircraft.
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Finally the zorro plane takes flight!! Let's all hope everything goes well and no further delays will occur.
China's high-flying aviation ambitions suffered a setback on Tuesday as Myanmar grounded several planes made by the Asian powerhouse and Indonesia ordered special checks on its fleet following a series of safety scares.
An MA60 turboprop airliner with 52 people on board crash-landed at an airport in eastern Indonesia on Monday, leaving two passengers with minor injuries and forcing state-owned carrier Merpati to write off the plane.
On the same day an MA60 operated by Myanma Airways and carrying about 60 people skidded off a runway at a domestic airport in southern Myanmar, although nobody was hurt.
It was the second such incident in less than a month involving one of three MA60s owned by Myanma Airways.
"I think the accidents happened because of system failure. We will check all the systems. That's why we stopped the operation of the planes," Tin Naing Tun, director general of Myanmar's Civil Aviation Department, told AFP.
"The systems also showed warnings before," he added.
The Chinese maker of the plane, AVIC Xi'an Aircraft Industry Company, could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
China is fighting for a bigger share of the multi-billion dollar global aviation market.
The communist nation is developing the ARJ-21 regional jetliner and the 168-seat C919 plane in the hope of competing with Boeing and Airbus.
Its turboprop-powered airliners have a chequered record. In May 2011 an MA60 operated by Merpati crashed in West Papua province, killing 25 people.
Following that accident, Indonesian authorities banned the plane from landing at three airports with difficult approaches.
After the latest incident on Monday, Indonesia's transport ministry said it would carry out a "special audit" - the term given to checks carried out following serious accidents - on the MA60s.
The process would take up to three months, ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan told AFP.
"We will investigate how maintenance work was carried out, the availability of spare parts, crew training, and all matters related to operations," Ervan said.
Merpati is the only Indonesian carrier which currently uses the Chinese-made planes, with eight in operation and five more undergoing routine maintenance work, according to airline spokesman Herry Saptanto.
"We have no plans to ground our planes because of yesterday's incident," he added.
"Our MA60 aircraft have been certified by Chinese and Indonesian aviation authorities. We will continue to fly them."
Dudi Sudibyo, senior editor at Indonesian aviation magazine Angkasa, noted however that MA60 planes were not certified safe by US or EU aviation authorities.
"Merpati was too hasty in purchasing the aircraft," he told AFP.
Sudibyo said the airline's pilot training, maintenance procedures and stock of spare parts should be investigated. "They should have grounded the MA60 for a week or two while the investigations are ongoing."
Other operators of the plane include Lao Airlines, Philippines' Zest Airways and several Chinese carriers.
Following the 2011 accident, there were calls by Indonesian lawmakers to ban the planes altogether.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered a review into the controversial US$220 million deal to buy the MA60s amid allegations of kickbacks and concerns about the planes' airworthiness.
A special audit carried out after the 2011 accident found the pilot was not familiar with operating the plane, and did not find any problems with the aircraft, according to Ervan.
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Confidence in the airworthiness of the MA-60 is being badly hit when accidents involving it comes so often. Authorities in respective countries should ground all flights while investigations are ongoing. However, such a move will probably bankrupt the airline, thus the continuation to fly while investigations are incomplete are tolerated by the lax in regulations in these countries.
What's worrying is the MA-60 not being certified safe by US or EU aviation authorities. When their standards are not reached, the safety of flight looms a very big question mark over the heads of the airlines operating the aircraft.
Global demand for aircraft in the next 20 years will be even stronger than estimated so far, pulled by demand in the Asia-Pacific region and from low-cost carriers, US manufacturer Boeing said on Tuesday.
Air traffic is rising at an explosive rate, with the number of passengers carried per year to double over the two decades, Boeing estimated.
Boeing raised its estimate of global demand by 3.8 percent to 35,280 aircraft, and in value by 7.0 percent to $4,800 billion (3,600 billion euros).
These increases were from estimates made last July, said the vice president for marketing of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Randy Tinseth.
Boeing and European aircraft manufacturer Airbus compete strongly for most of the existing market for airliners, but they face increasingly strong competition in years ahead from growing manufacturers in emerging economies.
Airbus estimated in its last forecast in September that from 2012-2031, demand for new airliners would total 28,200 and that this market would be worth $4,000 billion.
Boeing, publishing its market estimates before the Paris Air Show opens on Monday, said that from 2013-2032, demand in the segment for medium-range airliners with a single aisle, typically supplied by the Boeing 737 model or Airbus A320, would total 24,670 aircraft worth $2.29 billion.
Demand in this sector would continue to be led by orders from low-cost airlines and by demand from emerging economies.
More than one third of total demand would come from the Asia-Pacific region where airlines would need 12,820 new aircraft.
The markets in North America, where fleets were ageing, and in Europe would each generate demand for more than 7,000 aircraft.
Airlines in Latin America would order 2,900 planes, in the Middle East 2,610, and in Russia and the neighbouring confederation of independent states 1,170.
Demand in Africa would total 1,070 aircraft.
Boeing also raised what it expects to be its sales of long-haul and medium-haul aircraft, but reduced by 4.0 percent its forecast for sales in the segment for jumbo aircraft with 400 seats or more.
Boeing accounts for 10.0 percent of this market with its 747-8 aircraft which is the latest version of the Jumbo Jet 747. The main rival product is the Airbus A380, but Airbus has taken orders for only 262 of these.
The two giant manufacturers hold different views of the market for jumbo airliners.
Airbus is confident that the future lies with the superjumbo A380, the only aircraft in its class, because of the continuous growth of world air-passenger traffic.
Boeing holds that airlines will prefer smaller long-haul aircraft such as its 787 Dreamliner. The first version of this aircraft can carry up to 250 passengers.
Tinseth said: "This forecast gives us confidence as we increase our production rates and invest in new products like the 777X and 787-10X."
Boeing has not yet launched officially its new long-haul models with wings built from composite materials to complete its range of airliners which use less fuel than previous planes.
Tinseth said that in 20 years' time, the number of passengers carried each year will rise from 3.0 billion to 6.0 billion.
Huge investment in aircraft, airports and air-traffic management systems will be needed to meet this explosion of demand, he said.
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Asia Pacific will experience the biggest boom in aviation due to many emerging markets gaining momentum in air travel. There is big money to be earned in this area but one must tread carefully and not expand too hastily. One very good example is the failure of Kingfisher. The future is Asia, the giant that has been asleep for far too long.
Hundreds of flights in France were cancelled Tuesday as air traffic controllers kicked off a three-day strike against EU plans to create a single European airspace.
Controllers across the continent are due to stage various protests such as working to rule on Wednesday against what the European Transport Workers' Federation calls "a never-ending process of liberalisation, deregulation and cost cutting."
The day of action, which will involve staff in 11 countries, centres around a decade-long attempt to create a single EU airspace that controllers fear will cut jobs and affect work conditions.
France has been hit by two separate actions. Tuesday's strike was called by one of the controllers' main unions and will last three days, while other unions will join Wednesday's Europe-wide movement only.
Some 1,800 flights were cancelled Tuesday -- just under a quarter of the daily average -- after authorities asked airlines to cut some flights in advance to avoid mayhem on the day.
The situation is "on the whole quite calm in airports", said a spokesman for the Directorate General for Civil Aviation, France's aviation authority.
But Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair blasted the work stoppage, saying passengers were being "taken hostage" and calling on the European Commission to put an end to controllers' strikes after it cancelled more than 100 flights.
Air France, meanwhile, said it expected all long-haul flights from Paris would go ahead, but did not exclude "last-minute delays and cancellations."
The work stoppage is just one of the planned strikes in France this week, with railway workers due to stop work from Wednesday evening until Friday morning, and postal service employees expected to strike Thursday.
The air traffic controllers' main union, the SNCTA, called the three-day strike to denounce "the direct consequences on national policies of European constraints" on the sector.
Other unions that also represent controllers are planning to join Wednesday's protest movement to protest mainly against the "Single European Sky", which aims to bring management of European airspace under EU control.
Fragmented country-by-country air control is estimated to bring extra costs of close to five billion euros (US$6.6 billion) a year to airlines and passengers in Europe.
It adds 42 kilometres to the distance of an average flight as controllers are not able to manage more than a certain amount of flights at the same time, thus also harming the environment and causing delays.
By way of comparison, the United States controls the same amount of airspace with more traffic at almost half the cost.
The European Commission wants to redesign the EU's 27 national airspaces into just nine bigger sectors, saying a "single" European sky would improve safety ten-fold, slash pollution by 10 percent and reduce costs by 50 percent.
It will put forward proposals later Tuesday to speed up the reform, amid strong resistance from unions.
"The problem doesn't lie in the 'single sky' regulations that aim to harmonise air traffic management at a European level, we're for that," said Olivier Joffrin of the USAC-CGT, one of the unions involved in Wednesday's strike.
"What we don't accept is that the Commission use this to privatise and liberalise some activities."
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A strike which hits France rather than the usual Germany. This is the culture of the Europeans which you will hardly see in Asia. The ones suffering the most will be passengers themselves. Perhaps the Europeans should start changing the way they handle issues so as to come to solutions in a more amicable way.
A Singapore-bound Dreamliner flight had to be aborted mid-air after developing a glitch with its anti-icing system, its Japanese operator said Tuesday, the latest setback for Boeing's flagship plane.
The 787, operated by Japan Airlines was turned around shortly after leaving Tokyo's Haneda airport at 1:30 am (1630 GMT), a spokesman said.
"Several minutes into the flight, a message came on in the cockpit indicating a glitch with the anti-icing system for the left engine," he said.
"The glitch could not be sorted out quickly. The pilot expected some cloud and other elements en route to Singapore that could cause ice to form. So the decision was made to return to Haneda."
The plane landed safely less than an hour after takeoff.
All but two of the 155 passengers on board opted to take the replacement Dreamliner offered, which left Haneda five hours later, the spokesman said.
The incident comes only weeks after JAL and All Nippon Airways (ANA), the single biggest operator of 787s, put their full fleets of Dreamliners back into service following a four-month suspension over battery problems.
A global grounding order was issued in January after lithium-ion batteries overheated on two different planes, with one of them catching fire while the aircraft was parked.
Boeing admitted in April that despite months of testing it did not know the root cause of the problems, but rolled out modifications it said would ensure the issue did not recur.
Since then, Dreamliners have experienced a series of minor glitches, including a fault with an air pressure sensor.
The JAL spokesman stressed that the latest incident did not affect the battery system.
"We are investigating the cause of the trouble," he added.
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Icing problems are very crucial factors to consider in flight. If you've watched the first installment of Iron Man, icing almost killed Tony Stark. It is of no difference to airliners cruising at flight level of 35,000ft. Ice disrupts smooth airflow, adds weight and increases the stall speed. Therefore the pilot made the right decision to turn back and not risk the 155 lives on board.
