Hoax threats to flights must end, says expert  

中国民航频遭威胁密度惊人 专家吁加大处罚力度

近一个多月内，中国三家航空公司的5架航班连续遭遇威胁信息困扰。专家称，这一密度相当惊人，在国际上也属罕见。为此专家呼吁，应加大处罚力度，除追究刑事责任外，还必须追究民事赔偿责任。

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.