Summary

  • Commotion caused by the escaped animal resulted in passengers being evacuated from the aircraft.
  • The passenger responsible has been detained for up to 15 days.
  • Despite advanced air filtration systems, there are still risks of having animals onboard aircraft cabins.

A woman was detained in Shanghai after she boarded a China Eastern flight with her pet sugar glider, which escaped, causing a commotion onboard the aircraft and forcing all passengers to evacuate.

Commotion onboard

China Eastern Flight – MU5599 is a regularly scheduled service between Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport (SHA) and Jinan Yaoqiang International Airport (TNA) that generally only lasts around 90 minutes. However, on June 10th, a commotion caused before departure caused the entire flight to be evacuated and delayed by over an hour.

As reported by the South China Morning Post, a female passenger boarded this flight with a pet sugar glider in tow, which then escaped, causing panic onboard and a hunt to recapture the runner possum. Despite its recapture, the passengers were made to evacuate the aircraft due to safety concerns. The passenger in question has been detained by the police authorities for destroying the order of public transportation.

China Eastern A320 on ground

Photo: Mike Fuchslocher | Shutterstock

This incident can be considered a violation of law as the Chinese Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) does not allow passengers to carry live animals within an aircraft’s passenger cabin. Any animals that have to be transported must be done so in the aircraft’s cargo hold.

Raging passengers and netizens

Online reports suggest that both passengers and the general population within the nation are displeased with the events, with people commenting on the situation on social media platforms such as TikTok. From one member of the public calling for the passenger to be banned from flying indefinitely, while a fellow passenger questioned the effectiveness of the airport security, the incident has got people voicing their strong opinions.

Considering the disruption was caused on a nighttime flight, it is understandable why passengers might not be too happy with the delay. Data from flightradar24.com shows the following:

MU5599 SHA – TNA A320-200

Departure

Arrival

Scheduled

21:25

22:55

Actual

22:34

23:56

China Eastern A320-200 on ground

Photo: Kevin Hackert | Shutterstock

Simple Flying has reached out to the airline to learn more about the incident and how the airline is prepared to handle such scenarios. Any response received will be updated into the article.

Potential dangers

While many airlines around the world allow passengers to board airplanes with support/service animals, there is also merit behind the Chinese CAA’s law prohibiting passengers from bringing animals on board in the main cabin.

Data published by the National Library of Medicine suggest that one in ten people are allergic to animals and pets. While this might not be a danger when people encounter animals on the ground in open-air environments, the situation can get much more complicated and dire when allergic passengers are stuck with animals in a pressurized cabin in the sky.

While aircraft air conditioning systems have advanced air filter systems, there is always a slight risk due to difficulty in controlling the patterns of air circulation.

IMG_0643

Photo: Abid Habib | Simple Flying

Reactions such as anaphylaxis or asthma could occur if passengers allergic to animals find themselves sharing the aircraft cabin with an animal. This can endanger the passenger’s life due to the limited medical care available onboard an aircraft and the potential time it would take for an aircraft to land safely on the ground.

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  • China Eastern Tile

    China Eastern Airlines

    IATA/ICAO Code:
    MU/CES

    Airline Type:
    Full Service Carrier

    Year Founded:
    1988

    Alliance:
    SkyTeam

    CEO:
    Liu Shaoyong

    Country:
    China

    Hub(s):
    Shanghai Pudong International Airport

    Region:
    Asia

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