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Provincial Governor Blasts Air France after Mayor Thrown off Flight
Liaoning provincial governor has lashed out at Air France after a captain of one of its planes ordered a Chinese mayor off a flight from Paris to Beijing claiming he had been rude.
Bo Xilai, governor of Liaoning province in northeast China, blasted the French flagship air carrier for mishandling the incident which he said was due to "miscommunication problems."
The unidentified mayor of China's Liaoning province and his translator were thrown off flight AF128 on April 29 after the captain summoned police, reports said Tuesday.
"If he had been an American, would that Air France captain dare to do the same thing? This is really outrageous," Bo said at a press conference on Monday in Hong Kong.
"If our mayor did not understand English or French, then, his quality may be poor, but for the Air France captain, he has an awful quality."
Air France had confirmed the incident although a spokesman for the airline in Hong Kong denied Tuesday it had received any complaint.
"As far as the Hong Kong office is concerned, we have not received any complaint," he said, and declined to comment on Bo's remarks.
Bo said the furore began when passengers in the first class cabin complained that the mayor, who was on a trade mission, had too much luggage in the overhead lockers.
He said members of the mayor's delegation travelling in economy class had entrusted the luggage to him.
When a flight attendent removed one of the bags without the mayor's knowledge, Bo said the mayor, who did not understand French or English, began searching for it.
"He was worried that there might have been public money inside, when the luggage was taken away," said Bo, adding that the mayor did not understand when told to return to his seat.
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