Hoax threats to flights must end, says expert  

中國民航頻遭威脅密度驚人 專家吁加大處罰力度

近一個多月內，中國三家航空公司的5架航班連續遭遇威脅信息困擾。專家稱，這一密度相當驚人，在國際上也屬罕見。為此專家呼吁，應加大處罰力度，除追究刑事責任外，還必須追究民事賠償責任。

Beijing (CNS) – People who send threatening messages about flights should receive stiffer punishments, an expert on civil aviation safety said on Wednesday, citing five incidents of airplanes receiving threats in the past two months.

The threats sent via microblog, telephone, e-mail and Internet calls were fabricated for reasons such as blackmail, saving romantic relationships, catching a flight or creating excitement, said Lin Quan, a professor at the Civil Aviation University of China.

The laws and regulations on civil aviation should be made public, especially to young people, as more than 90 percent of the calls were made by people between the ages of 18 and 30, he said.

A New York-bound Air China flight was forced to return to Beijing seven hours after it took off on August 29 because of a threatening message. Flights of Shenzhen Airlines and China Southern also had to land at nearest airports in August and October for the same reason.

Air China confirmed on its official microblog that it had delayed two of its Beijing-bound flights Tuesday after receiving threats shortly before scheduled to take off.