Airlines that are repeatedly behind schedule on a route could lose the right to fly the passage starting next year.

The General Administration of Civil Aviation of China will step up efforts to prevent delays next year as the first step to improve service, said CAAC director Yang Yuanyuan.

He promised the administration will work out a mechanism to push carriers to reduce flight delays.

If a carrier suffers regular or serious delays on a route, the regulator will order the company to stay away from the route, according to a Shanghai Securities News report on December 27.

Yang didn't give specifics on how often a flight would have to be delayed before action is taken.

The country's civil aviation industry is expected to transport 160 million passengers this year, an increase of 15.9 percent from last year.

Cargo volume is expected to reach 3.42 million tons, up 11.5 percent from 2005. He noted that the aviation industry generated sales totalling 208.49 billion yuan (US$26 billion) in the first 11 months of this year.

Combined revenues at domestic airlines amounted to 146.7 billion yuan in the period. Profits hit 4.73 billion yuan, an increase of 2.14 billion yuan from last year.

Civil airports across China generated 18.34 billion yuan in sales in the first 11 months of the year, while profits topped three billion yuan. Shanghai Airport Authority was the most profitable airport operator, earning 1.69 billion yuan in profits.