Business Tianjin Magazine

The president of Chinese airline Okay Airways has apologized and vowed stricter safety measures after one of its planes suffered a malfunction scare.

"We are sorry. We assure the public that we will introduce stricter safety-control measures and more careful maintenance of aircraft. Our pilots will have more meticulous preparation for every flight," Liu Weining, president of Beijing-based Okay Airways Company Ltd., in an exclusive interview.

An Okay flight carrying 38 passengers from north China's Tianjin to Shenyang, in northeast China's Liaoning Province, found a fault with its landing gear while airborne, but landed successfully on Tuesday night after more than two hours spent hovering over Shenyang Taoxian International Airport (STIA).

No casualties were reported, but public relief soon turned to questions over Okay's safety measures and the quality of domestically made Xinzhou-60 regional jets.

"It turned out it was not a landing gear failure, but a failure of the signal system for the equipment. Such a problem has happened twice or three times before," said Liu.

"But the aircraft is not allowed to take off if we find problems during ground check," he added.

The five crew members involved in the flight are now under investigation, and further details regarding the incident will be published soon, according to the STIA.

The plane was scheduled to fly to Yanji City of the neighboring Jilin Province via Shenyang, but the rest of the journey was canceled.

Liu said all passengers were "properly treated" and Okay has not received any complaints.

Okay Airways began operating in 2005 as the first private airline in China.

The budget airline boasts 23 planes. The malfunctioning aircraft, a Modern Ark (MA)-60 model made by China's Xi'an Aircraft Industry Company, is one of 11 MA-60s owned by Okay.

As of January, these 11 planes had carried out 26,100 flights and flown for a total of 38,400 hours, according to Liu.

The aircraft's maker, AVIC Xi'an Aircraft Industry (Group) Co., Ltd., said on Wednesday that it had applied to aviation authorities to suspend service of Xinzhou-60 regional jets nationwide.

the company said it will check the signal system of the landing gear of all Xinzhou-60 jets in China and will apply to resume flight services once they make sure all jets are free of safety issues.

Meanwhile, it will send experts to check regional jets operated by its overseas clients, said the company.

The Xinzhou-60 model is the only regional jet in commercial service that is designed and manufactured by China.

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