China Eastern canceled more than 1,900 flights after crash that left 132 dead in Guangxi

The airline that operated the flight that crashed this Monday in the southern province of Guangxi with 132 people on board, China Eastern, had today canceled more than 1,900 flights in the Asian country at 12:00 local time (02.00 GMT), reported financial outlet Sina Finance.

This figure represents about 90 per cent of the flights that were supposed to operate today throughout China.

The airport in the southern city of Kunming, from where the wrecked plane took off yesterday, also experienced numerous cancellations on Tuesday: shortly before noon, airport authorities had canceled 223 flights, accounting for approximately 60% of the trips it had to manage today.

The airline, the second largest in the country by number of passengers, ordered on Monday that all its Boeing 737-800 aircraft, the model of the crashed plane, remain on the ground after the accident until more information is available about what happened, according to the local press.

Other Chinese companies such as Shanghai Airlines and China United Airlines also decided to land their 737-800s for the time being.

According to data provided by Sina Finance, 23 Chinese airlines have 737-800 models in their fleet, and 853 flights of this model were scheduled for Tuesday in the Asian country.

The event has led to declines in China Eastern's stock market value: its shares fell today by 6.15% on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and 6.3% on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where it is also listed.

The plane crashed on Monday made its way between the cities of Kunming (southwest) and Guangzhou (southeast) and took off at 13.15 local time (05.15 GMT) on Monday before rushing ashore in Guangxi at 14.38 local time (06.38 GMT), without the black boxes or survivors being located at the moment during the rescue tasks which continue today.

The flight was expected to last one hour and forty minutes, during which the almost seven-year-old aircraft had to travel the 1,357 kilometres between the two cities.

Shortly after the event, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for an investigation to clarify both the causes of the accident “as soon as possible” and other possible safety issues in the civil aviation sector.

THE ACCIDENT

Rescuers were fighting rain and mud on Tuesday in search of traces of the 132 people on board the Boeing-737 in Eastern China.

Hopes of finding survivors were dashed almost a day after the crash of this Boeing 737-800, which may be China's deadliest air catastrophe in nearly three decades.

According to the specialized flight tracker FlightRadar24, the aircraft lost nearly 21,250 feet (6,477 m) in just one minute before disappearing from radar screens.

Then, after a brief ascent, it plummeted again, 1,410 m, according to the tracker, to reach 983 m above the ground. He disappeared from the radars at 14H22 (06H22 GMT).

In total, he lost more than 26,000 feet (about 8,000 meters) in just three minutes, before crashing into a mountainside.

President Xi Jinping called for a thorough investigation to “determine the causes of the accident as soon as possible.”

(with information from EFE and AFP)

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