Air China was fined $1.9 million by the U.S. Department of Transportation
On February 9, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that air China and FlightHub Group would each be fined $300,000 (about 1.9 million yuan) for violating aviation consumer protection regulations. Among them, Air China violated the tarmac delay regulations, while the FlightHub Group carried out false publicity on the website and online advertisements.
The U.S. Department of Transportation said Air China violated tarmac delay regulations by not allowing international flights to stay on the tarmac for more than 4 hours without giving passengers a chance to disembark. The department issued a civil penalty order of $300,000 in accordance with regulations, which Air China must pay $143,000 within 30 days and $143,000 if it violates the order within one year.
Air China, while not agreeing with the penalty decision, agreed to pay a $143,000 fine, mainly to avoid litigation.
The U.S. Department of Transportation said the "Grayson" storm in the Northeast at the time affected airport operations in the New York area, forcing JFK To close on Jan. 4 and reopen on Jan. 5.
Due to heavy snowfall, winds, and low temperatures brought by the snowstorm, JFK International airport operations were interrupted until January 7. On January 4, Air China Flight 981 (CA981) departed from Beijing Capital International Airport to JFK International Airport in the United States.
Due to weather conditions, flights were diverted to Chicago O'Hare International Airport. The plane stopped overnight in Chicago, and the passengers disembarked and stayed there for one night. They plan to fly to JFK the next day.
On January 5, Air China received a message that at 2:04 p.m. (local time, the same below), The JFK Terminal 1 can provide services. However, due to tight boarding gates, insufficient personnel and other resources, Air China Flight 981 was delayed from O'Hare Airport to Kennedy Airport until 8:16 PM. The plane landed at JFK Airport, but there was no gate. As a result, 192 passengers stayed on the airliner for 5 hours and 18 minutes.
Air China responded to allegations from the U.S. Department of Transportation, saying it had arranged 105 of the 297 passengers on the back-up flight to complete their subsequent travel. Air China also said that when the plane landed at JFK airport at 10:58 p.m., it learned that several planes had failed at the boarding gate of Terminal 1, leaving them without a gate to use.
Air China said it had asked for assistance in disembarking passengers, but had not received a response. Air China said it also provided compensation to some of the delayed passengers afterwards.
