A jetliner, carrying 116 passengers and nine crew members, was hit by pigeons 2 minutes after it took off from Chongqing International Airport on Wednesday.
The Air China Boeing 737-300, heading for Shanghai, returned to the airport and landed safety, after circling for about an hour at a low altitude to burn off fuel.
The airport's safety supervision and administration office said the incident cost nearly 3 million yuan (US$365,000), which includes cost of repairing the plane's damaged engine and wasted fuel.
(China Daily April 22, 2005)
