Win Chun, a form of Kung Fu will be part of the mandatory training for flight staff at Hong Kong Airlines in China.
King Nu Zu or in English Air Rage will be responded to in China by an ancient sports – called martial art.
Fed up with violent passengers, Hong Kong airlines has declared that it’s cabin crew will now be required to learn an ancient martial arts to fight off aggressive flyers.
Bosses at the airlines have claimed that they have had enough of flyers hitting out at their staff, at least three times each week, when flights are delayed or canceled.
According to the Telegraph, the company will be paying for the personnel’s to learn a form of Kung Fu, called Wing Chun, which they hope will make irritated travelers think twice about resorting to violence, the New York Daily News reported.
Violent attacks have recently escalated in China.
Hong Kong Airlines currently has a mixed fleet of eight Airbus A330 and Boeing 737-800 equipment, has 96 more planes on order, and currently serves destinations within the People’s Republic of China, Japan, India, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The martial arts techniques are ideal for close combat in the confined spaces of an aircraft cabin, and could be applied in dealing with unruly passengers whose reasoning have been impaired by too many drinks.
However, such training is also designed to give flight attendants more confidence, flexibility, agility, and improve their physical fitness and balance, and shown in the attached video clip and slide show which accompany this report.
It is part of the carrier’s marketing campaign, which is meant to appeal to the Asian business traveler, who enjoy the mystique of attractive women defending their honor.
The airlines claim a more practical application. According to Eva Chan, an airline spokeswoman, such training came in handy on a recent Beijing (PEK) to Hong Kong (HKG) flight.
As Ms. Chan bluntly said, “One of the passengers was sick but he was probably also drunk. The crew member attended to him and she realized her fitness was helping her especially because the guy was quite heavy. Normally, a female cabin crew can’t handle a fat guy, especially if he’s drunk, but because of the training, she can handle him quite easily.”
Apparently, it is not unusual to encounter disruptive passengers. The Hong Kong based carrier claims that such incidents occur at least three times a week.
The last batch of new hires, 23 female flight attendants, found the training appropriate and enjoyable.
As flight attendant Lumpy Tang put it, “You cannot predict what will happen on the plane. I feel safer because I can defend myself and I’m really happy to be one of the first cabin crew in the world to learn Wing Chun.”
