Overseas returnee sorry for punching plane window

A 24-year-old overseas returnee has apologized to a domestic airlines company and agreed to pay for the damages he caused to an airplane window, after putting his fist through it to unleash his anger over a flight delay.

The air passenger, identified only by his surname, Liu, made the concessions after cracking the interior of a plane window on Monday night, about an hour and a half after his flight was supposed to depart Xiamen for Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport due to air traffic control delays.

The young man, who had recently returned from study abroad in the UK, was detained by airport authorities shortly after the incident and released hours later, following his apology to the airline and an agreement to compensate the damages.

The person sitting next to Liu was feeling unwell and could not move to let him out of his seat; being trapped in the enclosed space led him to become very agitated, he told authorities.

Although the outer layer of the window was not damaged from Liu's action, nine passengers refused to take the plane and changed their tickets.

The incident further caused the flight to be delayed by another two hours, before the plane finally took off after 12:30 am, nearly four hours after it was originally scheduled to depart, said Zhang Wuan, a spokesperson for the airline.

While the situation was unfortunate, the airline was glad to have settled the dispute quickly, he told the Global Times Wednesday.

Liu escaped the incident without serving up to 15 days of detention, a penalty that individuals risk for vandalizing aviation facilities, according to Chinese law.