Fight flights need tough law

The recent onboard fights have caused heated public debate. I have 35 years of experience in civil aviation, and agree that the passengers should be educated out of their poor behavior, since they lack a sense of aviation safety.

But more significantly, these chaos result from loopholes in our airline management. If we want to make radical changes, the answer lies in stronger legislation regarding passengers' behavior and authorities should enhance the role law enforcement plays.

The quarrels are not simply physical confrontations, but affect flight safety. Unfortunately, this view is not acknowledged by some of the mutinous passengers, forcing costly returns to airports.

Nevertheless, the key issue is that we have not put adequate legal effort into regulating passengers' behavior.

The Civil Aviation Law was established in 1995 and has not been revised since then. The existing regulations on passengers' behavior are limited and ineffective.

Furthermore, the civil aviation public security authorities seem to have neglected their duty. When incidents happened, we barely hear of them taking any action, let alone enforce the law.

It is the lax law enforcement that allows passengers to resort to violence again and again, because they do not expected to receive severe punishment and no legal measures restrain their behavior.

Some airlines have taken actions in consolidating law enforcement. China Southern and China Eastern Airlines have allocated additional security guards on the aircraft to ensure flight safety.

Only by strengthening law enforcement can we effectively control passengers' behavior onboard.