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Yang Yuanyuan, the newly appointed minister of the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) yesterday urged the nation's airlines to strictly control the hours worked by pilots as part of their quest to make plane travel safe. Yang was addressing a working conference in Beijing attended by top officials and managers from local aviation administrations and airlines. The once popular "red-eye" flights -- flights operating during the night -- had been totally banned, Yang said. He said that, in the interests of operational safety, his administration would not lift the ban in the near future. Twenty major Chinese airports -- including airports in Beijing, GuangZhou and Shanghai -- were also ordered to control the frequencies of planes taking off and landing to prevent possible ground accidents. He said the ground service departments of local airlines should pay great attention to the repair and maintenance of planes, and ground those that did not meet the technical requirements. Air China had a fatal air crash in April, and China Northern Airlines had one in May. The aviation administration has since been concentrating on promoting the safe operations among Chinese airlines. As well as several large-scale safety inspections led by top aviation officials, the aviation administration has also checked the qualifications and skills of some 7,000 pilots working for Chinese airlines. Twenty pilots were expelled due to their poor operation records and performances. At the conference, Yang also emphasized the importance of inspections of airport security, especially when it came to weapons. He asked airports to conduct a thorough review of their airport passes and stop uncertified people from entering boarding areas. The aviation administration recently cancelled the certificates of 33 ticket agents as part of its efforts to clean up the ticket-sales market.