Thousands track Huawei exec Meng Wanzhou’s return flight to China as years-long legal battle comes to a close
- Meng’s flight was one of the most watched in the sky, with more than 9,500 people tracking its progress at one point on the website FlightRadar24
- It remained unclear, however, what aircraft simultaneously ferried detained Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor back home after their release

Meng Wanzhou’s chartered homecoming flight was the most tracked plane in the sky on Saturday, as a jubilant Chinese public watched the years-long, multilateral legal battle over the Huawei Technologies financial chief’s business dealings finally come to a close.
As of 7pm on Saturday, more than 9,500 users of FlightRadar24, a flight tracking website, were fixated on the aircraft’s journey from Vancouver to Shenzhen, the home base of the tech giant founded by Meng’s father, Ren Zhengfei.
Meng’s chartered Air China flight, CA552, was the only international arrival scheduled for Shenzhen’s Baoan airport on Saturday, according to the information board in its largely deserted arrivals hall. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Shenzhen gets virtually no international flights.
Meng reached a deal on Friday with prosecutors in New York that effectively resolved a US fraud case that had kept her in legal limbo in Vancouver for nearly three years following an extradition request.
Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who were arrested in what was seen as retaliation for Meng’s arrest around the same time, were simultaneously released and boarded a flight home at 7.30am local time along with their country’s ambassador to China.

It remained unclear what aircraft ferried the so-called two Michaels back to Canada, and public flight tracking for the pair’s plane appeared unavailable.