An Air China flight from Beijing to eastern city of Hangzhou turned back halfway after local police received a threatening call on Thursday, said a spokesman with Air China.

Flight CA1595, which took off at about 09:00 a.m., returned to Beijing-based Capital International Airport just 10 minutes after it took off for Hangzhou. Later security examination proved it to be a false alarm.

At 9:32 a.m., local police informed the airline of an anonymous phone call threatening to take unspecified "dangerous action" against flights to Zhejiang on Thursday morning.

The airline headquarters immediately ordered CA1595 to return for another safety check and delayed the take-off of flight CA1813, which was headed for Wenzhou, a coastal city in the same province.

Subsequent security examinations found that the aircraft, passengers and cargo were safe, the two flights took off.

(Xinhua News Agency November 20, 2008)