Zhengzhou Airport riot

The Zhengzhou Airport riot occurred on 5–6 February 2014. Passengers at the airport in Zhengzhou, capital of the Chinese province of Henan, angry over lengthy delays due to snowy weather, smashed computers at airline check-in counters and destroyed information kiosks. It has been estimated that as many as 2,000 people took part over two days before police were able to restore order.[1]

Zhengzhou Airport riot
Interior of airport's terminal in July 2014, after riots
Date5–6 February 2014
Location
Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport, China

34.52625°N 113.84161°E / 34.52625; 113.84161
Caused byLack of information about status of delayed or canceled flights during weather-related airport closure
GoalsGet information, vent frustrations
MethodsVandalism, assault
Resulted inOrder restored by police
Parties to the civil conflict
Stranded travellers
Number
2,000
160
Casualties
Death(s)None reported
ArrestedNone reported

Some of the angry passengers had been waiting for as long as five days to catch flights back to their jobs in other cities after their annual trips to see family during the Chinese New Year holiday period. They were further frustrated by the lack of information from airline and airport staff while they waited. The mass incident highlighted the difficulties faced by China's commercial airline industry as more and more passengers choose to fly to their destinations; the airlines blamed the disorder on passengers' limited understanding of the nature of commercial aviation.[2]

After the riot, police did not report making any arrests, which outraged some commentators on Chinese social media. However, most of the public sympathized with their underlying complaints. In the years since, Chinese authorities have moved to open up more of the country's airspace, largely under military control, to commercial flights.

Background

With the industrialization and urbanization of China following its late 20th-century economic reforms, many younger workers left their homes in rural areas to work in growing cities. They are able to return usually only once a year, during the New Year in February. The 3.6 billion individual trips this involves over a 40-day period has been described as the world's largest annual migration.[1]

In the 1990s, when this demographic shift began, most of those workers traveled by train, putting great strain on the country's rail network. Overcrowding and long travel times led some travellers to take to the air as an alternative, especially as the country's three major state-owned airlines continued to grow, despite the military limiting civil aviation to less than 30% of the country's airspace.[3] [4] This problem has been compounded on occasion when the People's Liberation Army Air Force has ordered traffic reductions at major airports to free up airspace for training missions.[5] Smog around airports also causes delays.[6]

By 2013 FlightStats ranked several Chinese airports among its 20 worst in terms of on-time flight departures.[7] Combined with unrealistic expectations by many newer Chinese flyers from the days when air travel was seen as luxury available only to a few, air rage incidents began occurring in the 2010s.[8][9]

Most of the reported air rage incidents involved a single passenger, or small groups, such as the case of Yan Linkun, a Communist Party official in Yunnan stripped of his position and sent to prison after a widely publicized incident, caught on video, where he smashed a gate agent's laptop in 2013.[10] However some turned into mass incidents involving larger groups of what began being called the "air rage tribe".[lower-alpha 1] In summer 2013, 30 Nanchang Changbei International Airport passengers angry about a seven-hour weather delay pushed past security and occupied the runway. Airports began avoiding announcing flight delays except when there was a "major event" affecting multiple flights.[11]

Riot

Heavy snowfall in central eastern China during the first week of February 2014 caused severe disruptions to intercity transportation during the busiest week of that year's New Year. Airports all over the country were plagued by delays, and even rail was affected, with trains limited to slower speeds due to the weather. By Wednesday, 5 February, Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, where many of those who worked elsewhere in the country had returned to visit their families for the holiday, was experiencing intermittent delays.[1]

In the late afternoon, the continuing snow eventually turned those intermittent delays into a complete closing of the airport. Passengers continued to arrive, however. With the available seats in departure lounges long since filled, many sat and slept on their luggage, eating instant noodles they had prepared themselves as meals. Eventually it was believed that as many as 2,000 passengers were in the terminal building.[1]

Airline representatives claimed later that they had offered the stranded passengers tea, and attempted to find what overnight accommodations they could in the city that night for them. But for many passengers that was too little. Around 9 p.m. that night two incidents reportedly occurred.[3]

One passenger reportedly destroyed a China Southern Airlines information office. Another entered the airport's control room and struck Hu Xiaoyu, a staffer, then poured her drink over Hu.[lower-alpha 2] The woman threatened to post photos of the aftermath online, Hu said.[1]

That break in decorum and order kicked off further violence the next day. There were reports that passengers had attacked check-in areas, assaulted staff before they could get away, smashed computers and generally otherwise vandalized the airline areas. Sina Weibo and other Chinese microblogging sites posted pictures of the damage to the terminal.[1] While airport management denied the reports, businessman Chen Yunxian, on the Internet, likened the airport to a refugee camp. "No one is telling people what they should do, and some started to riot and smash things."[3][lower-alpha 3]

Angry passengers destroyed flight information displays at the airport, similar to this one.

Other stranded passengers recalled seeing water bottles thrown at flight information display boards. One said a thrower said "Down with China Eastern!" as he did. According to People's Daily, the captain of the local police station warned the airlines that if they continued to provide no information to travellers via the display boards, there would be violence.[12]

Passengers who did not damage property nevertheless occupied gate areas and demanded their money back.[12][lower-alpha 4] Staff, many of whom had been working for over 24 hours with almost no breaks, barricaded themselves in offices for their own safety. "I've been wronged as well" Xiaoyu, the assault victim, told a local newspaper, explaining that delays meant she had to stay at work. "We can do nothing about the weather."[1]

While the stranded passengers understood that the weather was beyond anyone's control, they nevertheless blamed the airport and airlines for failing to keep them informed of any changes. Communications technology, which might have helped fill the information vacuum, instead contributed to the confusion. The airport's wireless network was overwhelmed by passengers trying to access the Internet through their phones; likewise calls to the airport's hotline met with only a busy signal[12][lower-alpha 5] and the airport website crashed.[1] Travellers also complained that whatever airport staff they could find not only knew nothing but responded to queries with indifference or even hostility.[12]

Some staff complained that the passengers' behavior was preventing them from doing what they could to alleviate the situation. A China Southern employee said that passengers whom she had gotten on later flights after the ones they had originally booked were cancelled failed to show up when boarding was called for their new flights.[9] Due to the snow and the violence, the airport closed again on the afternoon of 6 February.[3][lower-alpha 6]

Later that evening, 160 armed police officers arrived and restored order, per the emergency plan staff were finally able to implement.[lower-alpha 7] The next morning the weather broke and the airport was able to reopen. Extra staff arrived to work the check-in counters; still, the airport was twice as busy as normal for that period, with 647 flights carrying the stranded passengers back to the cities where they worked.[12][lower-alpha 8]

Aftermath

Police did not report any arrests or criminal charges resulting from the riots , leaving some Chinese microbloggers in disbelief despite general public sympathy for the stranded flyers. "Are you allowed to vandalize an airport just because your plane is delayed?" one asked. "Why didn't the police take action?"[8] Another said that passengers who had assaulted staff needed to be "locked away ... Where were the police?"[9]

Other commentators noted that the riot highlighted the disparity between the many new airports China had built in the two decades prior and the still poor levels of customer service in the country's airline industry. "Zhengzhou Airport is better than the airports in many European and American cities" said Chen, the businessman who had witnessed the riot, "but the management level and passenger quality obviously remain at the level of Africa."[3][lower-alpha 9]

People's Daily, the newspaper of the Communist Party, similarly criticized the airlines for not keeping up with the country's air transport infrastructure. "Timely flight departures, user-friendly customer service ... in fact, the requirements of air travelers are not high" it observed. " But why can airlines and airports not meet these basic requirements?"[12][lower-alpha 10]

Over a year after the riot, Jamie Kenny, foreign correspondent for Abu Dhabi's The National, wrote that it followed the patterns of many other such "mass incidents", as Chinese authorities refer to occasions when citizens, angry about violations of their rights or official inattention to their concerns, gather together in large groups to protest, often destructive. "In China, people who go through the established means of grievance resolution may find themselves beaten up by hired thugs, kidnapped by 'interceptors' sent by local authorities on their way to petition in Beijing or incarcerated in illicit 'black jails'" he wrote. "On the other hand, if you gather thousands of people, assemble outside the local government and start burning police cars—then you get a respectful hearing."[6]

In a 2016 story that described the quality of Chinese domestic air travel as still low, with many of the country's major airports still reporting minimal improvements, if any, in on-time departure rates, the BBC's Capital noted that the airline industry was beginning to make some progress in working with the military to open up more airspace to commercial flights.[5] In 2015 the joint commission of China's Central Military Commission and the State Council had agreed to increase the amount of airspace open to civil aviation to 33%, with varying conditions, below 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) in altitude.[13] While this move will not affect intercity air travel, instead opening up space for helicopter tours and emergency services, the long-term plan is to extend this opening to airspace below 3,000 metres (9,800 ft), roughly similar to the U.S.[5]

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See also

Notes
  1. Chinese: 空怒族; pinyin: kōng nú zù
  2. 7日，《河南商报》报导，郑州机场在5日并非完全封闭，而是间断性关闭了3次。报导称，正月初六21时许，一名乘客就砸了新郑机场南航问询处。一名女乘客冲进新郑机场调度室，打了调度人员，还把饮料泼在调度人员的头上
  3. 不过在网络上，不少旅客否认了机场管理方的说法。智慧云CEO陈雪频在微博上说，"在郑州机场已经逗留了六个小时，大多数回上海的航班取消，没有知会，没有解释，没有补偿。机场像个难民营，到处都是航班取消的人，也没人引导他们应该做什么，有人开始骚乱砸东西。"
  4. 旅客1：打砸南航的那个我没看，东航的那个我没敢凑近看，我就听到有一人不停的喊，"打倒"东航。然后昨天里面每一个登机口就在喊，什么航什么航退钱退钱，就这个样子，特别乱。"
  5. 打不通的96666热线，似乎也可以看出，当时的信息公布并不像机场承诺的那样及时：
    旅客：现在我问机场，机场也不知道，我直接问着祥鹏航空公司他们总公司三个电话，两个打不通，一个打通了骂人在里面。你走不了你给我们安排住下，你直接给我个时间就行了是不是，等到现在都问不着，也没人过来问也没人过来管。
  6. 2月6日下午，郑州新郑国际机场因大雪关闭，2000多名旅客滞留在机场候机大厅，网传有旅客没得到食宿安排与机场方面发生冲突
  7. 按照机场方面的说法，5号飞机延误时，已经有大量旅客滞留并发生冲突，6号，机场启动应急预案，160名公安武警进驻机场维持秩序
  8. 7号早晨，郑州天气转晴，航班起降逐渐回复正常。郑州机场70多个开放的值机柜台排着长长的队伍，这一天郑州机场预计647架次起降，是平时的两倍。武警安保人员、地勤人员很多红着眼眶，连续工作24小时以上
  9. 他说："郑州机场的硬件比很多欧美城市的机场还好，但管理水平和乘客素质显然还停留在非洲水平。"
  10. 因天气原因造成旅客滞留，进而引发冲突，在各地的机场都不是头一回。及时的航班动态、人性化的补偿服务，其实，旅客的要求并不高。但为何航空公司和机场却无法满足这些基本要求呢？

References
  1. Feng, Bree (7 February 2014). "Stranded Travelers Start 'Riot' at Airport". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 13 December 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  2. "Zhengzhou airport riot over delays mars end of Chinese New Year holiday". Straits Times. 7 February 2014. Archived from the original on 28 January 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  3. Li, Jing (7 February 2014). "郑州机场因大雪关闭 滞留旅客怒砸候机大厅" [Zhengzhou Airport closed due to heavy snowfall, angering passengers waiting in terminal]. Epoch Times (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 29 January 2018. Retrieved 28 January 2018. 据《财新网》援引民航总局局长李家祥的话说，中国只有20%的空域向民用航空开放，其余全部禁止进入并严格由军方控制
  4. Zhao Lei (7 August 2013). "Air force can help combat crowded skies, experts say". China Daily. Archived from the original on 15 July 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  5. Bergman, Justin (29 April 2016). "This is Why China's Airports Are a Nightmare". BBC News. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  6. Kenny, Jamie (16 March 2015). "Chinese travellers turn to air rage to make a point". The National. Archived from the original on 31 January 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  7. Thompson, Chuck (12 July 2013). "China airports world's worst for on-time performance". CNN. Archived from the original on 19 July 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  8. Phillips, Tom (7 February 2014). "Chinese passengers start riot in airport over delayed flights". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  9. Li, Amy (7 February 2014). "Passengers go on rampage in Henan airport as snow grounds flights". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 13 December 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  10. Boehler, Patrick (7 August 2013). "Airport rage in Yunnan leads to prison time for ex-official". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 11 December 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  11. Moore, Malcolm (28 July 2013). "Chinese airlines hit by air rage amid long delays". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 25 December 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  12. "郑州机场否认被打砸：一旅客把矿泉水扔到公示板" [Zhengzhou Airport denies destruction; claims passenger threw bottle at display board]. People's Daily (in Chinese). 9 February 2014. Archived from the original on 30 January 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2018. 主军强：旅客信息航班延误比较多，没法显示出来，我就跟南航服务人员说，你把展板信息公布出来，就有旅客说，你写那有啥用，那个水瓶砸到展板上，就这！
  13. Li Ruohan (19 October 2015). "30% low-altitude airspace opened up". Global Times. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
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