Flight AK1516 left Kota Kinabalu at about 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 18 and was scheduled into Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport around 3 a.m. the next morning.
Passengers began posting accounts of the flight on Chinese social media on Aug. 19, Shanghai’s Xinmin Evening News reported.
A passenger surnamed Zhuo, seated with his wife across the aisle in the same row, told Jimu News the smell reached them 40 to 50 minutes before touchdown and woke passengers in the rows ahead and behind.
The woman appeared to be in her 40s, he said, and sat in a middle seat between two boys of around 10.
“It was just before 2 a.m. and we were all asleep,” he said. “She hurried toward the toilet carrying a bag, and then a strange smell came out.”
Passengers first assumed someone had vomited. Zhuo’s wife suspected one of the boys, but both were asleep.
The cabin understood what had happened only after a passenger in the row ahead turned around and pointed out waste on the floor.
The woman had used a plastic bag, Zhuo said, but the contents spilled onto the aisle carpet and her seat.
Confronted by angry passengers, she said she was unwell and asked who never gets sick.
The toilet was about five meters behind them and had not been closed, he said, adding that they were in row 26 on an aircraft with roughly 30 rows.
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Planes from AirAsia, a subsidiary airline of Capital A, are seen on the tarmac of Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 2 (KLIA2) in Sepang, Malaysia, Feb. 26, 2024. Photo by Reuters |
A crew member wiped the area with tissues and sprayed air freshener, but the smell persisted.
He said the air conditioning was off because the aircraft was preparing to land, and described the following 40 minutes as excruciating. Passengers crowded into the aisle near the door once the plane was on the ground and taxiing.
AirAsia said in a statement issued in Shanghai on Aug. 21 that cabin crew found an abnormal hygiene situation in the aisle as the aircraft prepared to land, and that they prioritized a safe landing while carrying out a basic cleanup with gloves and towels, The Paper reported.
The captain and ground team were notified on landing, and cleaners disinfected the area after all passengers had disembarked, the airline said. Crew operating the return flight were briefed on the incident and the condition of the cabin.
Frank Tang Ting, AirAsia’s general manager for China, said the company recognized the cabin crew’s professionalism, composure and speed in handling the situation, and that passenger safety and well-being were central to its work. He thanked passengers for their understanding.