An airline passenger who joked about having a bomb after boarding a flight from Chengdu to Urumqi has been fined.

Wen, the culprit, was part of a geophysical team flying from the Sichuan capital to the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region at 7:55 am on Aug 28. However, he caused panic shortly before takeoff when he told a female flight attendant that his silver metal case contained a bomb.

Police immediately took Wen off the plane, while the flight was delayed for more than an hour as security teams scoured the aircraft looking for explosives. Under questioning, Wen said he was joking and that the case in fact contained geological surveying equipment. He was not allowed to take the flight and was later fined 400 yuan (US$60).