China's aviation authority said flights must take off within 30 minutes after the passenger door is closed -- in a bid to reduce flight delays.

Flights being delayed for more than two hours should be given priority for departure and flights must take off within 30 minutes after the passenger door is locked, said Xia Xinghua, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, Beijing News reported today.

Frequent thunderstorms have caused massive flight delays in the airports of Shanghai, Beijing and other cities recently, and passengers accused airlines of letting them board and wait on the plane to avoid paying delay compensation.

According to regulations, passengers can get compensation if they have waited for more than four hours due to delays caused by airline companies. However, once they board the plane in time, the flight will not be considered delayed. Sometimes passengers could wait for hours on the plane.

Xia said his administration is building a nationwide platform to release real-time information of weather conditions and flight arrivals and departures.

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