China has missed the deadline to release an investigation progress update on the third anniversary of China Eastern Airlines crash, the deadliest on its soil so far.
As of Friday, 21 March 2025, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has missed out on issuing an interim statement on the investigation into the crash of China Eastern Airlines Flight MU5735.
Families of the victims of the crash are eagerly waiting for the cause of the crash, as they expressed frustration at the delay in the investigation results.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) convention has standard norms that the country conducting an air accident investigation to publish the final investigation report within 12 months of the event.
If this could not be achieved due to some reason or further investigation requirements, the investigating authority must publish an annual update on the anniversary of the accident each year.
Instead of a final report on the Boeing 737-800 crash, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) released updates in 2023 and 2024. But it failed to do so on Friday for the third anniversary.
Worth noting here, on March 21, 2022, a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 plunged into a hillside in Guangxi, roughly an hour after departing from Kunming, bound for Guangzhou. The crash resulted fatal injuries of all 132 occupants, marking China’s deadliest aviation accident in 30 years.
Beijing missed the annual deadline to publish progress on a deadly plane crash in southern China, that has raised growing concerns among global aviation groups over delays in publishing a final report into the crash.
As of Friday local time, the third anniversary of the crash in March 2022, the Civil Aviation Administration of China had not issued an interim statement on its investigation into the crash of China Eastern Airlines Flight MU5735. The agency issued such statements the day before both the first and second anniversaries of the crash.
Despite international aviation guidelines recommending that a final crash report be released within a year, or with periodic updates on each anniversary, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has only issued two brief anniversary updates. These statements offered scant details, providing no conclusive findings on the cause of the tragedy.
On Saturday, after the third anniversary of the crash, relatives of the victims were still waiting for an official explanation. Both CAAC and China Eastern Airlines failed to respond to requests for comment regarding the report’s status.
Following the crash, CAAC’s Preliminary report briefed that:
However, in May 2022, the Wall Street Journal had published a report that black box (Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder) data suggested the passenger aircraft may have been intentionally crashed, citing U.S. officials’ preliminary assessments.
However, China's CAAC dismissed this claim, stating that unverified speculation had “gravely misled the public” and hindered the investigation.
The delay in publishing the final investigation report has sparked frustration and suspicion on Chinese social media platforms, including Weibo and Xiaohongshu.
“Three years… no results? Does nobody remember?” one Weibo user wrote.
Another Xiaohongshu commenter remarked, “Not releasing in itself is a type of report.”
Globally, many of the aviation incidents and accidents do not get published as "final investigation report" due to lack of evidence and substance to sustain an investigation. This case should not get lost in history as time passes by.
Aviation industry and Regulators across the world are concerned over the growing number of delayed or missing crash reports globally. These reports are essential for the aviation industry to identify safety flaws and prevent future tragedies.
Aviation experts blame the delays on scarce investigative resources, judicial interference, and a lack of political will to disclose certain findings.
The CAAC said in last year’s briefing that its investigation had found that the preflight qualifications of the crew, maintenance staff, airport support staff and air traffic controllers were all “in line with requirements”.
It also said last year that there was “no abnormality” in the plane’s radio communications before the crash, there was no “dangerous weather” at the crash site and “no evidence that there were any dangerous goods in the cargo or baggage”.
In 2023, the report on the first anniversary of the crash said: “Due to the complexity and rarity of this accident, the investigation is still in progress”.
In May 2022, citing people familiar with an early assessment of the crash by US officials, The Wall Street Journal reported that the crash might have been the result of a deliberate manoeuvre to dive the plane.
In response to the public frustration and ongoing speculations in social media, Chinese lawmakers are considering significant reforms to the country’s civil aviation laws. The proposed changes aims to include the various measures to address the spread of “rumors” about aviation safety, CAAC announced last month.
Families of the victims are helpless, the delay and lack of transparency is painful by every passing anniversary. Without a final report, they remain without closure or accountability.
The years long silence on the cause from Chinese competent authorities only increases the suspicion and public distrust, raising concerns about the transparency of air accident investigations in China.
Meanwhile, the CAAC did not confirm or deny the report, saying only that it had received confirmation from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that the agency’s investigators had “not released any information about the investigation to any media”.
On the process of investigation, the China Eastern Airlines has said that:
“Any informal speculation could interfere with the investigation of the accident.”
