The Airbus aircraft manufacturer has publicly apologized after it was accused of banning Chinese citizens from board its A400M military transport aircraft at an event at the Singapore Aviation Exhibition 2024 on February 24.
Many Chinese visitors to the trade fair have posted on social media complaints that they were banned by German soldiers from board Airbus aircraft owned by the German Air Force in the air show.
In a video posted by a Chinese person, a woman at the entrance to the A400M asked to check the person's nationality "because this is a German plane".
The Global Times reported that the guest confirmed that he had filmed a German employee and "exchanged him" after knowing he was Chinese.
A second blogger said the German attacked him, forcing him to file an official complaint with the Singapore Aviation Exhibition organizers, accusing him of discrimination against Chinese people. Chinese tourists are said to have been allowed to board military aircraft of other countries.
Although Airbus did not specifically mention whether Russian citizens would be banned as some of the allegations on social media, the airline admitted in a statement that some tourists have questioned the airlines right to access airplanes.
Airbus also affirmed that it has immediately contacted and coordinated with customers and Airbus staff at the exhibition to ensure that the aircraft is always open to all visitors for the remainder of the event.
The European aircraft manufacturer stressed that the airline is searching for mutually beneficial cooperation with the Chinese aviation industry and aimed to build a communication bridge between China and Europe.
Airbus has dominated the passenger plane market in recent years as US rival Boeing has encountered a long series of potentially deadly manufacturing problems.
A computer failure on the Boeing 737 Max 8 killed two passenger bombers in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019. The two crashes also caused hundreds of commercial aircraft to stall for nearly two years.
The replacement for the 737 Max 8 is the 737 Max 9, which is also banned from flight and has been banned by US regulators after a Alaska Airlines flight had a mid-range f closure incident last month.
The EU and the US have long complained about China's theft and monitoring of Western military technology. The US has pressured the UK and EU countries to ban Huawei from using its 5G infrastructure, fearing that the company's device could collect Western sensitive data for the Chinese government.
So far, no evidence of the allegations has been made public.
