Passengers can get compensation from Chinese airlines as high as 45,000 yuan (5,549 US dollars) in case they suffer losses due to the delay of their scheduled flights to overseas destinations starting from Sunday, when the international convention on air transportation will take effect in the country.

The move, approved by China's relevant departments, aims to better protect the rights of passengers, industry insiders were quoted by Beijing Daily as saying on Thursday.

The compensation is 100 times the sum compared with before, when passengers usually can get only hundreds of yuan as compensation in this case under concerned rules of the General Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the report said.

CAAC's old rules on international passenger and cargo transportation will be changed and revised, the report said.

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

In addition, airlines are obligated to pay maximum 1.1 million yuan

(135,759 dollars) as compensation in case a passenger died or was injured during the flight no matter whether the carrier is responsible for the accident or not.

But the report did not say how much the airlines pay before under this circumstances.

Source: Xinhua