China's CAAC shuts down Taizhou airport in Zhejiang province after security breach

BEIJING: China has closed down an airport in its eastern Zhejiang province following a recent incident in which a passenger managed to smuggle a lighter and knife and attempted to set fire to the plane while on flight.

A regional branch of China's civil aviation administration last night decided to suspend operation at the Taizhou airport after the incident on a flight originating there, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.

The eastern branch of the Civil Aviation Administration of China ( CAAC) asked Taizhou airport to suspend operations starting this morning, citing civil aviation regulations, and will send a work group to supervise the airport's management.

The suspension was ordered after a passenger was detained for attempting to damage plane facilities on Shenzhen Airlines flight ZH 9648, which departed from Taizhou, while it was landing at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport on Sunday.

The flight was carrying over 100 passengers and crew.

All of them were evacuated after emergency landing.

The unidentified man who was detained after landing attempted to set fire to the seats and attacked passengers with a long knife.

CAAC asked local branches to conduct safety checks on medium-sized, small and new airports after the incident.