The Yixiu District People’s Court in Anqing, Anhui province, made the ruling in July. However, the ruling was only made public by the court recently.
Lucky Air Flight 8L9960, which was bound for Kunming in China’s southern Yunnan province, was canceled at Anqing Tianzhushan Airport in Anqing, China, on February 17 after officials noticed a couple of coins on the ground near the plane’s left engine.
All 162 passengers on the aircraft were forced to board different flights to get to their destination as a result of the coin toss, and Lu was subsequently detained by Anqing police for 10 days on charges of disrupting public order.
According to the South China Morning Post, Lucky Air incurred a loss of more than 123,000 yuan (around $18,000) to arrange accommodations and replacement flights for all the plane’s passengers.
Lucky Air filed a civil lawsuit against Lu in May. During the court hearing, Lu, who was represented by his brother, argued that the maintenance costs being demanded by Lucky Air were too high and that the airline should have reminded passengers not to throw coins at planes before boarding.
Although Lu argued that he could not afford to compensate Lucky Air for all of its losses, the court eventually ruled that he would have to pay the airline around $17,200. However, the court did agree to cut Lu’s court costs in half to 458 yuan ($66).
This is not the first time that such an incident has occurred with Chinese airlines.
In 2017, a Lucky Air aircraft was scheduled to fly from Anqing to Kunming, but the trip was canceled after a 76-year-old woman tossed coins at the engine for “good luck.” She was also taken into custody, but she was not charged for her actions.Similarly, in June 2018, an 80-year-old woman identified by the name Qiu also chucked coins at the engine of a China Southern Airlines flight scheduled to fly from Pudong International Airport in Shanghai to Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou, according to Chinese outlet Shanghai Daily.