S. Korea, China to hold talks on air route double-tracking

SEOUL, Feb. 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and China have agreed to hold a working-level meeting soon to discuss the double-tracking of the air route between the two countries and ways to revive the bilateral aviation market, officials said Friday. South Korea's Vice Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Maeng Sung-kyu reached the agreement in a meeting with senior Chinese aviation officials in Beijing on Tuesday, according to the ministry officials. The meeting was held on the sidelines of a ministerial-level conference of aviation policymakers in the Asia-Pacific region, which took place in the Chinese capital Wednesday and Thursday. The officials, however, failed to disclose when and where the two neighboring countries will hold the aviation meeting. At the Beijing meeting, South Korea and China agreed to make efforts to provide a double airway between Seoul and Beijing in order to cope with rising demand and flight delays. Opened in 1994, the Sino-Korean air route serves as a trunk route linking about 90 cities in China, the Middle East and Europe. Currently, some 150,000 flights use the route, with air traffic increasing at an annual average rate of 10 percent. With traffic on the route rising rapidly, some 1,800 flights suffered delays in 2016 alone. According to the officials, the double-tracking of the Sino-Korean airway is expected to help ease congestion, boost flight safety and enable airlines to save fuel. (END)