China Eastern is grounding all of its Boeing 737-800 passenger flights after one of its planes crashed on Monday afternoon in the southern Chinese region of Guangxi.
The Boeing 737-800 aircraft, operating the MU5735 flight with 123 passengers and nine crew members on board, crashed at about 2:38 pm into a mountainous area near the Molang village in Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou, causing a mountain fire.
The aircraft was flying from Kunming in southwestern Yunnan Province, to Guangzhou, southern Guangdong Province.China Eastern said no foreign passenger was on board the crashed aircraft.
China Eastern operates 291 Boeing 737 series airliners with an average operation age of seven years. The 737-800, belonging to the 737NG aircraft family, is one of the mainstream single-aisle passenger aircraft operated by domestic airlines, and also one of the most popular narrow-body aircraft in the world.
According to statistics, domestic airlines operate about 1,400 Boeing 737NG aircraft, about 37 percent of the total fleet.
Following the grounding of the aircraft, China Eastern has canceled 1,786 flights as of 7pm on Monday, and another 1,757 flights for Tuesday, accounting for over 80 percent of its scheduled flights.
Kunming Changshui International Airport also cancelled a lot of incoming and outgoing flights.
China Eastern said in a statement that an emergency response mechanism has been activated with nine groups set up to take charge of the aircraft maintenance, accident investigation, family assistance, logistics, legal support, public relations, security, finance, as well as passenger and cargo treatment.
The groups have taken a charter flight to the accident site. A hotline for family members of the passengers and crew members on board the ill-fated aircraft has also been publicized (4008495530).
