Hoax phone calls hit flights
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, May 18, 2013
At least 11 flights to Shanghai were disrupted last night after airports in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chongqing received bomb threats.
The calls, which turned out to be hoaxes, came a day after a man was detained for making similar calls that disrupted five domestic flights on Wednesday.
Operations at the Shanghai Hongqiao and Pudong International airports were unaffected by the latest incident, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said yesterday.
Police are actively pursuing a suspect, officials said.
Air China, China Eastern, China Southern and Spring Airlines were among the carriers affected, with flights being diverted or delayed. The threats didn't specify which flights were involved, administration officials said.
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and Chongqing Jiangbei Airport received threatening calls at around 6:30pm, claiming there were bombs on flights to Shanghai, airport authorities said.
Chongqing airport immediately activated an emergency response but gave the all clear at 7:50pm, Xinhua news agency quoted the airport as saying.
Spring Airlines' flight 9C8856 from Guangzhou to Shanghai was among the first to be affected because the aircraft had taken off from Guangzhou, the budget carrier said.
"To ensure the safety of passengers onboard, the airline decided to divert the flight to land at the nearest airport in Fuzhou, southeast Fujian Province and launched an overall inspection," a spokesman said.
The flight changed course and landed in Fuzhou after flying for about an hour, a passenger surnamed Zhao said. Many police officers, holding protective shields, and fire trucks were waiting on the tarmac, Zhao said.
Diverted flights took off again after inspections found nothing amiss.
Aside from prison terms, hoax callers could be sued by affected airlines, administration officials said. They said diverting an aircraft was expensive, especially with the cost of fuel.
On Thursday, a 26-year-old unemployed migrant from Inner Mongolia was detained by police in south China's Guangdong Province in connection with bomb threats that disrupted five flights to Shenzhen the day before.
Police said the suspect had confessed to making hoax calls to airports in Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing, Xi'an and Lanzhou.
Threats pose problems for airlines
May 15, 2013
Five flights to Shenzhen, including one from Shanghai, were disrupted by calls of bomb threats. A suspect was caught in Shenzhen the next day.
December 1, 2012
A China Southern Airlines flight from Guangzhou to Zhenzhou carried out an emergency landing in Wuhan after a threatening call.
October 8, 2012
A China Southern Airlines flight from Urumqi to Beijing made an emergency landing in Lanzhou City after a false bomb threat call.
August 29, 2012
An Air China flight from Beijing to New York City returned to Beijing after seven hours of flying, after a threatening call was received by the airline operator.
April 27, 2012
A man surnamed Pu called the Pudong International Airport saying he had placed bombs on an Air China flight and demanded money. He was later sentenced to 14 months in prison.
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