A new service centre is expected to be in place this week to deal with complaints from civil aviation passengers.

As the first full-time service centre under the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC), the nation's civil aviation regulator, the department will also ensure domestic airlines fulfill their commitments to passengers.

"Though the service supervision function had existed inside CAAC's transport department for a long time, it's the first time a centre concentrating on listening to passengers' complaints and feedback has been established," said an official with CAAC's publicity department, who would only reveal his surname as Zhang.

He said new regulations concerning passengers' complaints are also being drafted and are expected to be released in the near future.

"The new regulation clearly identifies how fast to respond to passengers' complaints and how to deal with the complaints more efficiently," he said.

Zhang said he believes the new regulation will further standardize aviation services for passengers.

Many domestic airlines have announced they will be increasing the punctuality of their flights. Part of the centre's role is to supervise that aspect of the airlines' services.

"The centre will release reports on domestic airlines each month or quarterly to let passengers know if they are keeping their commitments," Zhang said.

He said the service centre's telephone number will be released via the media once it is in operation.

Sources with major domestic airlines have welcomed the move, saying the supervision will help airlines improve.

In an unrelated development, the training of aviation police is proceeding well and hundreds of them will be working with domestic airlines by the end of next month.

The security staff will travel as crew members and are being trained to react to terrorism attempts.

CAAC has refused to say whether they will be armed, but has said they will be able to subdue potential hijacking attempts swiftly.

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