Mid-air brawl on Donghai Airlines turns bloody as pilot left with missing tooth

Two members of staff have been suspended from working at Donghai Airlines after a mid-air brawl left them with degrees of injuries.

The two staff members, a pilot and a flight attendant, reportedly became aggressive to each other following an argument over the first-class bathroom.

In the ensuing brawl, the pilot walked away with a missing tooth, while the flight attendant suffered a broken arm, Per Second News gathered.

Donghai Airlines was operating a service from Nantong to Xian on February 20^th, when the incident happened.

A male pilot was making use of the first class lavatories when a passenger in the premium cabin requested access.

The pilot requested that the passenger return to their seat; however, the passenger ignored this request and continued to hover outside the bathroom door.

Upon exiting the bathroom, the pilot saw the passenger lingering outside and is alleged to have laid into the flight attendant supervising the first class cabin, it was learnt.

He told the male flight attendant that he was “not doing his job properly”, and that he had put the safety of the flight at risk.

The anger rose uncontrollably, but according to data obtained by Per Second News from the flight, the two became engaged in a row that ended up in fisticuffs.

Reports from passengers blamed the pilot for the physical assault, but the airline has yet to confirm the development.

Meanwhile, Donghai Airlines has issued a statement confirming that it has suspended both members of staff.

Shared on Weibo on Sunday, the airline’s statement read,

“The company attached high importance to the argument among the crew members during flight and conducted a strict internal verification. Those staff members involved have been suspended their job to ensure flight safety.”

It went on to say that the airline plans to conduct an overall safety review following the incident.

Donghai Airlines is headquartered in Shenzhen, China, and flies 23 737-800s on mainly domestic routes. The airline has all its 737s configured with eight first class seats and 159 in economy.