China Eastern Airlines (中國東方航空) saw its share price sink 6.8 percent early yesterday after the Civil Aviation Administration announced it was fining the company for an incident in which its pilots intentionally disrupted flights, inconveniencing hundreds of passengers.
“This incident exposed existing weaknesses in our management and taught us a deep lesson,” the airline said in a statement released after the aviation regulator announced it was fining the company 1.5 million yuan (US$214,300) for the disruptions.
China Eastern shares were down 6.8 percent at 9.55 yuan by late yesterday morning.
The Shanghai-based airline earlier said that 21 flights on March 31 in Yunnan Province were intentionally disrupted by pilots who either turned back midway through their flights or landed them and then took off again without letting passengers disembark.
It was a rare show of defiance by pilots reportedly disgruntled over contract and work conditions in a country that bans unauthorized labor organizing.
Chinese aviation regulators announced the fine and the suspension of some of China Eastern’s flights in Yunnan late on Thursday after an investigation.
Initially, airline officials had claimed the pilots did not land their flights because of poor weather, but that was widely disputed by state media and customers who noted that other flights to the same destinations were landing as usual.
China Eastern suspended its Yunnan branch general manager and Communist Party secretary for the branch as well as some pilots.
Local news reports attributed the action to anger among pilots over a policy requiring them to pay compensation of up to 2.1 million yuan for breaking lifetime contracts.
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