For business fliers worried by reports of chronic delays on China’s congested airways, Beijing bureaucrats have a relatively reassuring statistic: more than 80 per cent of the nation’s flights are on time.

Except that it is not clear what “on time” means. Different Chinese airports and airlines have different definitions of what constitutes a delay and the Civil Aviation Administration of China is less than helpful about explaining its statistics.

“I don’t know what the standard is,” a CAAC spokesman says.

Such official opacity will not surprise cynics among China’s frequent fliers, who say that on some busy routes it often seems that substantial delays are the norm.

Even airline executives recognise that late flights have become one of the sector’s biggest problems. Xu Jia, a frequent traveller who works at a state-owned business in Beijing, says that his worst experience was waiting eight hours for a flight last year to the north-eastern port city of Dalian, the second largest city of Liaoning Province.

“The airport said we couldn’t take off because of weather problems,” Mr Xu recalls. “But when people waiting at the airport telephoned to check with friends in Dalian or with Dalian airport, they all said the weather there was fine.”

But why are such delays so common? And what can the traveller do to minimise the confusion involved and the inconvenience caused?

The first thing any visitor should understand is that Chinese civil aviation is in the throes of an expansion that has strained capacity to its limits. In 1985, only 6m passengers took a domestic flight in China. In 1995, more than 40m did. And by last year the number had swelled to 146m, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

“A major reason for flight delays is the fact that growth in Chinese aviation in the past few years has been just too fast,” says Li Jiaxiang, the former head of flag-carrier Air China and newly appointed head of CAAC. In an interview ahead of his promotion, Mr Li argued that construction of airports and airline management had simply not been able to keep up with growth in traffic.

Growing pains are inevitable and airlines have struggled to find enough pilots and other staff to keep their rapidly expanding fleets in the air.

Administrators say that recent restrictions on the number of flights to Beijing, slicker airline operations and revisions to air traffic management rules will all help reduce delays.

Mr Li and his comrades are, however, less keen to discuss perhaps the biggest single problem: – the continuing control of the vast bulk of China’s airspace by the powerful People’s Liberation Army.

The military authorities confine commercial aircraft to narrow and congested corridors across the country and flights can fall victim to sudden and secret decisions by air-force commanders.

The problem was highlighted in November, when the military held unannounced drills in the same week that Beijing announced new rules nearly doubling the number of civilian aircraft allowed in its airspace. Instead of enjoying smoother travel thousands of passengers were stranded in airports along the eastern seaboard with no official explanation.

Passengers can do nothing about such military impositions but veterans of China’s airways say there are ways to boost your chances of enjoying a smooth trip and ease the pain of disruptions. Mr Xu, for example, recommends travelling the day before any important meeting.

He also says it is worth considering local weather patterns: to avoid Dalian’s summer fogs, for example, try to travel around noon rather than later in the day.

A simpler trick is to make sure you establish where your plane is when checking in, rather than relying on airport staff to tell you if it is stuck at an airport half way across the country.

“They must know, but when you arrive at the check-in counter they often don’t tell you anything,” Patrick Horgan, a Beijing-based consultant, says.

On busy routes, it is often possible to find an alternative to a badly delayed flight but fierce competition between China’s state-owned airlines means your carrier may be reluctant to help or may even claim that all other options are full. Check at rival airline counters yourself.

For some large cities, China’s rapidly improving rail services offer a real alternative to business flying. There are overnight trains with comfortable sleeper cabins running between Beijing and central cities such as Shanghai and Wuhan, for example.

Unfortunately, travellers can learn their flight is delayed when it is too late to consider such alternatives. Airlines often put passengers on to the plane even if a flight is unlikely to take off on time, resulting in lots of time spent stuck on the tarmac. A bottle of water brought onboard and a full meal before departure may make the experience less unpleasant.

Perhaps the most important advice for navigating Chinese flights – as for so much of life – is to give yourself a chance to notice the highs as well as the lows.

Local governments across China are flush with cash and are keen to impress, so even second-tier cities now often have shiny new terminals with soaring roofs and window walls.

In a few months, Beijing will boast the world’s largest airport terminal, a behemoth designed by Norman Foster, the British architect. Flying to Shanghai’s Pudong Airport brings the chance to travel at more than 400km/h on the world’s only high-speed maglev (magnetically levitating) train in commercial operation, an experience only slightly marred by the fact the maglev stops in the middle of nowhere rather than the centre of town.

Mr Horgan says airline service standards have improved dramatically in the past decade even though pilots’ affection for a pre-take-off cigarette often spoils the air of supposedly smoke-free flights.

Airport security, he says, is much smoother than in some other countries, while the charmingly idiosyncratic style of the Air China magazine makes up for otherwise limited in-flight entertainment.

More importantly, the billions of dollars China has spent on new US and European aircraft and improved standards mean that the country’s recent aviation safety record is impressive for a developing nation.

Your trip may take a while but you will get there in the end.

Flight checklist for a smoother journey

● If you want to read an international business newspaper on a domestic flight, buy it before you set out. China’s media controls mean that titles such as the Financial Times are not on sale even at Beijing airport.

● Keep checking that you are waiting in the right place. Chinese airports often switch gates at the last minute without making announcements.

● Do not assume you will be able to get online in the terminal – wireless hotspots are rare.

● If you can, leave plenty of time for delays. Check with your airline or airport before departure and ask about your aircraft’s status at check-in.

● Some frequent fliers say it pays to stick with bigger airlines or those that are based in the airport you are flying to as they seem to get priority.

● Another theory is that domestic flights that are tied through code-shares to international services are less prone to delay, so use those if you can.

● Consider going by train.