GLOBAL AIRLINES body IATA has announced that China has opened new routes through its airspace that will cut flying time by half an hour between Europe and the big cities of its eastern seaboard. IATA, the International Air Transport Association, said the routes – which were opened on April 13 – could initially benefit 110 flights a week to, from and across China, and save airlines millions of dollars in fuel bills. “The new routes... demonstrate the Chinese government’s clear understanding of the benefits of a successful air transport sector,” IATA director-general Giovanni Bisignani said in a statement. Officially known as Y-1 and Y-2, the routes cut across central China well north of the Himalayas and offer more direct flight-paths to Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong – as well as on to Manila in the Philippines. They could also cut flying time to Beijing in the north and on to Seoul for both passenger and cargo flights, and reduce air traffic delays involving all the major coastal cities of the booming Chinese economy. IATA, which has been negotiating with Beijing on the new routes for over five years, says that only 30 percent of China’s airspace has been open to civil aviation, leaving international carriers little choice in flight plans.
