China's aviation authorities have been told to exempt aircraft involved in anti-drought missions from some aviation fees and ensure the supply of aircraft for drought relief.

Aviation and ground service fees, approach command fees and air route fees have been scrapped for aircraft involved in work such as cloud seeding, said an official from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on Monday.

The CAAC has also ordered water, fuel and electricity supplies to anti-drought aircraft to be expedited, the official said.

China has turned to artificial means to create rain in provinces stricken by the worst drought in decades, using rockets, artillery shells and aircraft carrying cloud-seeding equipment.

Two An-26 freighters successfully created moderate rainfall on February 15 in Henan's northwest and Anhui's north, covering more than 100,000 square kilometers.

China's worst drought in five decades began in October and has affected 111 million mu (7.4 million hectares) of crops so far, with 4.68 million people and 2.49 million livestock having poor access to safe drinking water, according to the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

(Xinhua News Agency February 17, 2009)