China Eastern penalizes protesting pilots

Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines (CEA) has suspended two executives and a number of pilots for intentionally distrupting 21 flights late last month to express grievances over labor policies, AP reported. China Eastern pilots turned back from their flights midway on March 31, claiming adverse weather conditions though other aircraft continued to fly along the same routes. Others landed their flights and took off again without allowing passengers to disembark. In all, 1,000 passengers were inconvenienced, CEA said. The airline has issued an apology on its website, but did not say how many pilots were involved or penalized.