Captain awarded for avoiding Shanghai airport collision

SHANGHAI -- An airline captain received a cash prize for his successful handling of a near collision between two planes at Shanghai's Hongqiao airport last month.

He Chao, the captain of a China Eastern Airlines A320 jet, was awarded 3 million yuan ($444,500) and his crew was awarded 600,000 yuan on Thursday by the airline.

On Oct. 11, when the A320 was about to take off, another jet, an A330,was taxiing across the runway. He directed an emergency take-off and prevented a collision.

In a statement issued 10 days later, the Civil Aviation Administration of China attributed the incident to errors by air traffic controllers. It meted out punishments to 13 air traffic officials and suspended the traffic control licenses of those at fault.