Airlines will authorize their ground service agencies to provide passengers with drinks, food and compensation for delayed flights that are the airlines' fault.

The agencies do not need to ask airlines for approval first, which will save time in serving passengers who might otherwise be kept waiting for hours.

If flights are postponed to the next day, the Beijing Capital International Airport will keep the air conditioning and lights on for passengers who choose to spend the night in the terminals instead of a hotel. The airlines will also provide blankets.

The General Administration of Civil Aviation (CAAC) authorized the measures to help reduce flight delays and improve service.

Another measure requires that the airlines provide staff to handle the passengers' arrangements regarding hotels and food.

A Chinese newspaper recently reported an incident in which a domestic airline assigned a woman and a man to share a hotel room after their flight was postponed to the next morning.

The passengers were total strangers, and the woman refused the arrangement. Angry passengers who heard about the incident messed up the whole hotel, the report said.

Flight delays have been common since June because of frequent thunderstorms. There have been a number of incidents in which angry passengers attacked airline employees, CAAC said in a release.

In the first half of July, at least 2,000 flights to and from Capital International Airport have been delayed because of thunderstorms.

"We have made an emergency plan to deal with the large scale of flight delays," Ma Ruzhuang, an airport spokesman, said in a phone interview. "Our airport command centre will gather airlines, air traffic control, weather and other relevant departments in 20 minutes."

(China Daily July 27, 2006)