An employee from Sichuan Airlines was suspended from work for making hateful comments online, flagging concerns over the mental health of flying cabin crews.

The official Weibo account of Sichuan Airlines said on Sunday that one of its employees was suspended from work pending an investigation for making improper comments online.

The individual was found by netizens to have made hate comments about the victims in the Nanjing Massacre and Han Chinese using personal Weibo account in 2015, according to pictures circulating online.

In other posts the individual shared pictures of himself dressed in cabin uniform and his civil aircraft pilot license.

The remarks from the person have sparked heated discussion online and concerns on flying safety, with netizens calling airlines to add the person to a flying blacklist.

“This kind of job is so important. Any mistake is going to kill a lot of people,” commented a netizen named as Shanshui 7105.

“Stricter checks on mental health should be carried out on such special industries,” commented another netizen.

Sichuan Airlines said that the individual joined the company in August 2021 and the remarks were made when the person was in the college.

Sichuan Airlines said it is taking the issue seriously. The company has suspended the individual.

The Chinese civil aviation authority also addressed the mental health of Chinese civil aviation staff in a meeting on Wednesday, following the crash of the China Eastern Airlines Flight MU5375.

During a teleconference on civil aviation safety, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) called for taking care of the physical and mental health of civil aviation workers, especially the ideological work of pilots to lay a solid foundation for the safety of front-line operations.

Global Times