SHANGHAI - A privately-owned Chinese airline publicly apologized on Tuesday for its pilot's refusal to give way for the emergency landing of a Qatar Airways flight in Shanghai earlier this month.

Shanghai-based Juneyao Airlines also said in a statement that the company will comply with the penalties meted out on Monday by the East China Regional Administration under the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

"No matter the reason, it was wrong for the crew members of flight HO1112 not to carry out the instructions of air traffic controllers on Aug 13," the company said, and it apologized for the negative impact stemming from the incident.
The company said it will fire the captain, a citizen of the Republic of Korea.

According to the penalties, Juneyao Airlines is suspended from company expansion and aircraft leasing and is required to reduce 10 percent of its current capacity.

The airline has also been suspended from recruiting foreign pilots, according to the CAAC.

The captain's CAAC pilot's license was revoked, and he is banned from applying for a license again in China, in accordance with China's flight rules.

The pilot's license of the flight's first officer has been suspended, and the suspension will last six months.

On Aug 13, Qatar Airways' Boeing 777 flight QR888 from Doha to Shanghai's Pudong Airport diverted to Hongqiao Airport due to a thunderstorm, and requested to land first because of a fuel shortage.

But Juneyao Airlines' flight HO1112 refused to give way despite six orders from the control tower, forcing air traffic controllers to organize another emergency landing strategy for QR888.