In the case of the Beijing-Shanghai route, passengers have had to pay the 970 yuan price in full since the beginning of April, whereas there were discounts of between 40 and 60 percent during the first quarter of the year.

Li Jun, the administration's vice-minister, said that only witha stable ticket price level can domestic airlines seek long-term healthy development.

The civil aviation administration pushed 22 major domestic airlines into signing a no-discount agreement during a conference held last week in Changsha, capital of Central China's Hunan province.

The airlines promised that they would not violate related ticket-price policies covering 113 domestic air routes. Nearly all the most lucrative routes were included in the agreement.

To reinforce its efforts at overhauling the market, the administration increased its supervision over ticket prices for 10major Chinese cities including Beijing, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Xi'an and Xiamen.

Sources close to the aviation authority said 14 regular fights from nine airlines had been stopped last week because of discrepancies in ticket sales.

(Xinhua News Agency April 9, 2002)