The Times, London, has apologized for carrying a "baseless" report on Chinese Uygur pilots, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said on its website yesterday.

The Times report, published on August 18, said China had grounded three Uygur pilots during the Olympic Games out of terrorism fears.

"The report is baseless and untrue. It has harmed the reputation of China's civil aviation industry, as well as the three Uygur pilots," Xu Li, spokesman for the CAAC, said.

The two pilots, Aikebaier Maimaiti and Ailiyiming Niyazi, are still serving as captains for the Xinjiang branch of China Southern Airlines and are among their most trusted pilots, he said.

The third, Dulihong, works for Xinjiang General-Use Airlines, and his responsibilities include crop-dusting and firefighting, Xu said.

Dulihong's job this month is crop-dusting over the vast cotton fields around the town of Korla, on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert, he said.

The Times' correspondent in Beijing has said he is "extremely sorry", and as an apology the newspaper published a rectified report on Aug 24.