Gu Jia/Shanghai Daily news
 
Air China received a complaint yesterday morning over the delay of a flight by three hours. A company official explained that the flight crew had to make up for lost sleep, it is reported in today's Oriental Morning Post.
Chen, a local woman, was preparing to take flight CA 1590 to Beijing, which should have departed at 8:55 am from the Hongqiao International Airport. She was travelling for a business negotiation conference which began at 2 pm.
However, she was told at the boarding check-in counter that the flight had been postponed to 12 noon and that Air China would not compensate her for the loss caused by the delay.
A base manager from the Air China Shanghai Office revealed that it is a common situation with most airlines that inadequate sleep of the aircrews will result in flight delays.
Pilots and stewardesses are promised a minimum of an eight-hour sleep between two flights, and aircrew are not permitted to fly more than eight hours at one time, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
Air China, the third airline company to establish bases in the city since this March, has not assigned a separate crew here.
"It hasn't been built into the schedule that an extra crew will be assigned in Shanghai, " explained the manager, "So we still have no alternatives in such situations in the near future. "