China's aviation industry is expanding too quickly, as a fleet that has doubled in a decade causes congestion and threatens safety standards, the country's regulator said.

"Our human resources and facilities can't support such fast growth," Yang Yuanyuan, the head of the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China, said in a July 23 interview in Beijing. "Our air traffic control and even the roads leading to airports are facing congestion."

China's passenger and cargo traffic grew 19.5 percent in the first half, faster than the government's target. The regulator will cut flights to Beijing and reduce the amount of time planes can spend in the air to prevent a rise in the country's accident rate, which is currently less than half the global average.

"The infrastructure construction and training of new staff can't keep up with the growth of the industry," said Ma Ying, an analyst with Haitong Securities Co. in Shanghai. The aviation regulator "will do everything possible to ensure safety."

Earlier this month, the nose of an Air China Boeing 767 hit the ground at Beijing Capital International Airport, after its undercarriage was raised while passengers were boarding the plane. Most of the staff working when the incident occurred were new trainees, Yang said.

Safety Record

Chinese commercial airlines have an accident rate of 0.29 per million flying hours, compared with a global average of 0.7, according to the regulator. The country hasn't had a fatal commercial airline crash since November 2004, according to Flight Safety Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Alexandria, Virginia.

The regulator plans to raise pilot training standards and to introduce higher criteria for captains to ensure safety standards, Yang said. The number of hours planes can be used for each day may also be cut to guarantee adequate time for maintenance and pilot rests.

Flights into Beijing's airport, China's busiest, will also be reduced to give the industry time to "breathe", Yang said. The number will be cut by 100 a day to 1,050 by Sept. 1 and then to 1,000 by Oct. 28, Yang said. Flights will increase once a new terminal opens in March, reaching as many as 1,600 a day during the 2008 Olympics in the city.

A Boeing 777 operated by China Southern Airlines, the nation's largest carrier, and a China Eastern Airlines Airbus A320 collided at Beijing Airport last August, seriously damaging both planes. No one was injured.

Airline Traffic

China's airline traffic has surged because of economic growth that reached 11.9 percent in the second quarter, the fastest rate in 12 years. Air China, the nation's largest international carrier, probably boosted first-half profit more than 20-fold, it said on July 24 without elaboration.

China has made "big" progress in talks with the International Air Transportation Association about opening new air corridors, Yang said, without elaboration. IATA, as the airline grouping is known, has called on China to open up more airspace currently closed off for military reasons to commercial flights in order to cut fuel usage and flight times. A route opened last year cut 30 minutes off a round trip to Europe, according to the group.

Airport Charges

The regulator also plans to start bringing airport charges into line with international practices, Yang said. Fees for overseas carriers may fall to the same level as those for domestic carriers over a 5-to-10 year period.

"We want to build Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou into international hubs and we should make some gestures to attract airlines," said Yang. "We need to do it in stages and in ways that are acceptable to both airports and airlines."

Overseas airlines probably pay about four times as much as domestic carriers for some airport services, according to Haitong's Ma. The charges, uniform across the country, are among the highest in Asia outside of Japan, according to IATA.

China's aviation industry is expected to grow 14 percent a year in the five years ending 2010, according to the government's five-year plan. The country's commercial airline fleet more than doubled in the 10 years ending 2006. It will probably more than triple to 4,000 aircraft by 2020 compared with 1,039 planes at end of 2006, according to the regulator.

China is talks with Boeing and Airbus about aircraft purchases for the five years ending 2015, Yang said.

About 140 billion yuan (US$18.5 billion) will be spent on building and expanding airports in China by 2010. The country had 147 airports in operation last year, with the number set to rise to about 190 by 2010.