From Sunday, passengers of Chinese airlines will be able to get compensation as high as 45,000 yuan (US$5,549) in case they suffer losses due to the delay of scheduled flights to overseas destinations as an international convention on air transportation takes effect.

The Montreal Convention, which was endorsed on May 28 by the 16th session of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, to better protect the rights of passengers, will become effective on July 31.

The maximum compensation is 100 times that of before, when passengers usually only got hundreds of yuan under the rules of the General Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

The CAAC's regulations on international passenger and cargo transportation will be revised accordingly, said industry insiders.

In line with the convention, passengers can get a maximum of 11,000 yuan (US$1,356) in compensation if their luggage is lost. Before, losses were compensated based on the weight of the luggage involved.

In addition, airlines are obliged to pay a maximum 1.1 million yuan (US$135,759) in compensation if a passenger dies or is injured during a flight, whether the carrier is responsible or not.

The Montreal Convention was adopted by International Civil Aviation Organization member states in 1999 to largely replace the Warsaw Convention, originally signed in 1929.

(Xinhua News Agency July 29, 2005)