China Eastern Airlines has a history of safe flying and has gone nearly two decades without a deadly crash, according to aviation safety databases. But in its earlier history, the airline had a series of disasters.
The last deadly Chinese Eastern crash was in 2004, when a Bombardier CRJ-200 flying from the city of Baotou in Inner Mongolia to Shanghai plunged into a frozen lake shortly after takeoff, killing 55 people. The disaster was caused by ice on the wings, safety regulators said.
In 1989, just over a year after the airline was founded, an Antonov AN-24RV lost engine power on takeoff from Shanghai, killing 34. In 1993, a China Eastern crew member accidentally deployed slats on the wings of a McDonnell Douglas MD-11, forcing an emergency landing at a U.S. Air Force base in Alaska. Two passengers died.
