Emirates barred and fined by China Civil Aviation for safety violation

Dubai-based Emirates Airlines will pay the fine and will cooperate with the Civil Aviation Administration of China to make future flights in full compliance with CAAC’s requirements for flying over China.

The fine is 29,000 yuan ($4,270) and the fast expanding A380 airline has been barred the carrier from expanding its operations in China for six months.

China recorded two safety violations over their air-space by Emirates.

The airline also briefed the authorities on its own probe and plans for improvement, the CAAC said.

During an Emirates flight on April 17, the crew misunderstood instructions and flew at a wrong altitude above Urumqi in Xinjiang, according to CAAC. In another incident on May 18, the airline’s radio communications were cut off over the same region.

The censure is part of efforts to improve safety over its airspace by the Chinese regulator, which said this week that it has “zero tolerance” for violations, vowing a mechanism to evaluate and punish unsafe operations by airlines and airports. Earlier this year, CAAC penalized the Thai unit of AirAsia Bhd. for changing flight plans of 10 chartered aircraft.

In May, the regulator began registering drones after a dozen intrusions at airports in the southwestern part of the country this year threatened hundreds of flights.