Consumer associations from 17 major Chinese cities such as Beijing, Wuhan, Chongqing and Hong Kong have jointly called for information on air tickets to be written in Chinese. At the moment, details such as the name of the carrier and airline terminal, and the date of departure are all written in English.

A joint proposal has been handed to the Ministry of Transport, the Civil Aviation Authority, and all domestic airlines and representative offices of foreign airlines. The proposal stated that consumers have the legal right to be properly informed.

While consumers are now exerting greater power, the airlines are offering more heavily discounted tickets to attract passengers and boost business in the economic downturn. For example, one-way airfares between Shanghai and Seoul have been reduced to Rmb410, down from Rmb1,800 a year ago.