A Chinese airline passenger pulled open an emergency exit as his plane was about to take off because he “just wanted fresh air”, Chinese media have reported.





The man had not realised that opening the door was dangerous, staff members said.



The safety scare on Sunday came days after a passenger on another domestic flight opened the emergency exit moments after his plane landed - deploying the shute - saying that he was in a hurry to get off.



There is growing concern in China that the behaviour of travellers, particularly those venturing overseas, is damaging the image of the country.



An AirAsia flight from Bangkok to Nanjing had to return to Thailand last week after an angry Chinese passenger threw scalding water at a flight attendant.

But Sunday’s incident, on a Xiamen Air flight from Hangzhou to Chengdu, seems to have been an innocent mistake by a first-time flier. Startled fellow passengers took shots of the incident on their mobile phones, later posting them on social media.



“I have been flying so many years, and it is the first time that I’ve seen someone open the emergency exit,” one wrote, according to the Zhejiang Online website.





No slide was used because the door was above a wing on the Boeing 737-800 and maintenance workers were able to fix the problem in time for the flight to take off punctually.



“It was the first time he had flown,” an airline press officer told the Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper.



“He did not cause delays or any other direct losses to the airline.”





The spokesperson added: “There are warnings on the emergency exit and there are instructions on how to open the exit in case of emergency. However, the passenger didn’t do it deliberately.”





The cabin crew explained the danger to the man, in his 50s, and changed his seat before the flight took off.





The airline has no authority to hand out punishment and did not ask the airport police to do so since the man had not done any damage and had not acted maliciously, the press officer added.





It is unclear whether the man involved in last week’s incident with the shute was punished. Staff at China Eastern Airlines told reporters that the incident on the Xi’an to Sanya flight delayed the plane’s next take-off by two hours.



An unnamed expert told the official China News Service that the airline might also have to spend over 100,000 yuan [£10,340] checking and maintaining the emergency slide and cabin door.