China's aviation watchdog has vowed to punish pilots engaged in rare industrial action that allegedly included refusing to land planes, state press said Wednesday. In a meeting on Tuesday, the Civil Aviation Administration of China vowed to strip pilots of their licenses for refusing to land their planes on schedule, the Beijing News reported.
According to the paper, pilots flying 18 China Eastern Airlines routes refused to land due to bad weather and returned to their point of departure during regional flights in south-western China's Yunnan province on Monday.
Other airlines flew the same routes that day and all landed safely, the paper said. The "strike action" came after an open letter to the airline calling for better treatment had been circulated among pilots belonging to the Yunnan flight branch of the airline, it said.
It also came after 40 pilots for Shanghai Airlines called in sick at the same time on March 14 and 11 pilots of East Star Air disputed working conditions with their company on March 28 causing long delays out of the central China city of Wuhan, it said. China's aviation authority was not immediately available to confirm the its statement or the reported strike actions.
The Beijing News quoted a China Eastern Airlines official as insisting that the Monday flight returns were due to routine safety concerns. Other Chinese press reports have said that domestic pilots are clamouring for better pay after pilot shortages in China have led airlines to hire foreign pilots who are paid much higher salaries.
Strike actions are very rare in China, where union activity is strictly controlled by the ruling Communist Party. Employees in any industry are only allowed to belong to the ruling Communist Party-controlled All China Federation of Trade Unions.