Donghai airline, pilot, and flight attendant grounded after fight over toilet that ended in a broken arm and missing tooth

The incident spread across social media after the pilot and attendant fought over a passenger trying to use a first-class toilet

The airline has been punished with ban on new flights, the pilot lost his licence, and the attendant has been barred from flying

2-MIN READ2-MIN

Donghai Airlines has been slapped with a raft of sanctions and staff barred from flying after an inflight incident went viral earlier this month. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 6:15pm, 16 Mar 2021Updated: 7:04pm, 16 Mar 2021

A Donghai Airlines pilot’s flying license has been revoked, executives demoted, and the company banned from adding new flights or routes after a fistfight between the pilot and a flight attendant inflight went viral online last week.

This is the most serious sanction the Shenzhen-based airlines, which flies to 32 locations in China and is owned by Hong Kong tycoon Bill Wong Cho-bau, has received after a series of scandals in recent years.

The brawl between pilot Zhang Dayong and flight attendant Yang Jialin took place on Donghai Airlines flight DZ6279 from Nantong to Xian on February 20, allegedly just 50 minutes before landing.

Zhang was using the bathroom when a first-class cabin passenger wished to use the toilet. The pilot asked the passenger to wait at their seat, but was ignored by the passenger, according to social media posts about the incident.

The pilot saw the passenger still standing at the door when leaving the lavatory and rebuked Yang, the attendant who oversaw the first-class cabin, for “not doing his job properly and affecting flying safety”. The toilet argument escalated into a fistfight which resulted in the flight attendant’s arm being broken and the pilot losing a tooth.

The incident went viral on social media last week and an investigation by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) was announced on March 8.

“We have zero tolerance for potential safety hazards and will deal with the problem in the Donghai Airlines with strictest supervision, toughest punishment and most serious accountability,” Wu Shijie, a safety official with the CAAC, told reporters on Monday.