China Southern and Hainan Airlines have been voted the best mainland carriers by air travelers, a new survey has revealed.

Conducted by the Customer Working Committee of China Association of Civil Aviation, the poll covered more than 60,000 mainland passengers, who were asked to choose among the 16 biggest airlines last year.

Also, China Eastern, Air China, Shenzhen Airlines, Shanghai Airlines and three others have also been chosen as "satisfying carriers".

"In general, the passengers gave a higher score to China's civil aviation industry than in 2006," said Committee Director Liu Yimei yesterdayin Beijing .

The overall customer satisfaction index for last year was 79.4, up 2.4 points on the previous year.

The Civil aviation authority's flexible pricing policy and airlines' efforts to improve service were responsible for the improved rating, she said.

Most of the respondents spoke highly of the carriers' in-flight service, which scored 85.9 points.

But the majority were not so satisfied with the communication of flight delays and ticket booking services, which scored 80.7 and 80.6 points respectively.

Respondents hope carriers will improve communication with passengers in the event of delays, after 15.7 percent of those surveyed mentioned it as an inconvenience.

The same level of dissatisfaction was registered in 2006, suggesting airlines' efforts in this area are still inadequate.

The poll also found that domestic travelers are more faithful to brands, and fewer complaints have been made about airlines.