China Eastern pilot who avoided Shanghai runway collision rewarded with 3 million yuan

The captain of an Airbus A320 who avoided a collision with another plane on the same runway at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport has been awarded 3 million yuan (HK$3.45 million) by his employer China Eastern Airlines.

He Chao, a veteran captain of the Shanghai-based airline, has also been rated an “advanced party member”, an honour given to a select few for their achievements, news portal ThePaper.cn reported.

The plane’s crew members were awarded 600,000 yuan between them, the report said.

Errors by air traffic controllers appeared to have caused the near miss between the two planes on October 11, the civil aviation authority said.

The Airbus A320 jet He was piloting was cleared for take-off from a runway when He saw an Airbus A330 taxiing across its path, according to the report.