China opens up east-west airspace channel for civil aviation

China today opened up a 2,000-km- long civil aviation airspace between Shanghai and Lanzhou to ease air traffic congestion and improve flight safety and punctuality in the busy east-west sector, the state media reported.
China's airspace is mostly controlled by the country's military, making the air traffic highly congested and leading to flight delays.
China has optimised civil airspace channels in the northwest China's Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai provinces, and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Che Jinjun, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) air traffic management bureau director said.
The airspace channel which was opened today connects Shanghai, on China's central coast, with Lanzhou, the capital of the country's northwestern Gansu province.

The channel traverses the country's east, north, northwest and mid-south regions, with 48 airports, 14 airlines and more than 2,400 flights involved, the CAAC air traffic management bureau today said.
China's east-west airspace artery, linking China's Yangtze River Economic Zone with the Belt and Road, would help in improving flight punctuality and air travel safety, Che said.