Flights are expected to be available every half an hour for
trips between Shanghai and Beijing as an air express service
project begins trial operation on Monday.
The project, launched by the General Administration of Civil
Aviation of China, will allow travelers to change tickets for other
flights among the five major domestic airlines as long as they have
not gone through the boarding procedure.
The five airlines taking part, namely China Eastern Airlines,
Air China, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines and Shanghai
Airlines, will each provide travelers with quicker check-ins,
security checks, boarding and luggage collection through designated
passages.
In addition, the air express service also ensures the time it
takes to travel from downtown area of Shanghai to that of Beijing
will be less than three hours.
Travelers can take the flight from 7: 30?AM to around 10:
00 PM, Shanghai Morning Post reports. After coordination and
planning, the five airlines are expected to launch flights every
half an hour around October this year.
The Beijing Capital International Airport and Shanghai Hongqiao
Airport have set aside exclusive counters for the service.
Meanwhile, as the Shanghai Morning Post learns from a
ticket agency, the price of air tickets from Beijing to Shanghai
has increased by one to three percent, while no discounts are on
offer from Shanghai to Beijing.
Also, the express service is expected to be expanded to cover
other major cities, such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
(CRI August 6, 2007)