High-kicking cabin crew using wing chun to defend against aggressive passengers
Aggressive behaviour by passengers in China is on the increase and one airline has responded by teaching its cabin crew martial arts, writes Kate Whitehead
It's just over a year since 20 angry passengers, their patience snapped by a 16-hour delay, stormed on to the runway at Pudong airport in Shanghai and prevented an international flight from taking off. Risky behaviour on mainland routes shows no sign of slowing.
In February, CCTV footage of a Chinese official having a temper tantrum at Changshui Airport in Kunming went viral. Annoyed that he'd missed his flight, Yan Linkun went into a rage, smashing airline computer monitors and screaming abuse.
There have been numerous cases involving irate passengers in China in the past year - both in the air and on the ground, and on domestic airlines as well as some international ones.
The reaction from airlines has been mixed. But Dr Vernon Nase, head of the department of law at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia, warns of the danger of doing nothing. Nase has studied air rage across the globe.
"The airlines need to be pro-active. They need to seriously re-examine this area with a view to enforcing the laws that are already there and on the books and exercising the power they have. If they don't, it's sending the wrong message," he says.
A comprehensive study has yet to be conducted, but anecdotal reports suggest the airlines most susceptible to such incidents are the smaller carriers. The larger the airline and the better trained the staff, the faster incidents are quashed before they become a public nuisance.