During the ongoing Spring Festival travel season in China, the General Administration of Civil Aviation for the first time publicized a list of airline companies that received complaints from passengers in 2003.

China Southern Airlines Group received 102 complaints, Air China 95 complaints, China Eastern Air Group 92 complaints, Hainan Air Group 41 complaints, Xiamen Airlines 7 complaints, Shenzhen Airlines 8 complaints, Shanghai Airlines 7 complaints, Sichuan Airlines 11 complaints and Shandong Airlines 12 complaints, according to the list.

The move is to urge Chinese airlines to improve service quality and safeguard customers' interests through utilizing social forces, said an official with the General Administration of Civil Aviation.

Most complaints were about the lateness of scheduled flights, alteration of flights at will and mismanagement of luggage transportation, said the official.

(Xinhua News Agency February 4, 2004)