A Virgin Atlantic passenger plane flies in the sky with the moon seen in the background, in London, Britain January 19, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

Virgin Atlantic said today it was investigating an alleged incident on a recent flight from London to Shanghai when a Chinese woman said she was abused by a fellow passenger.

The airline said the company will not "comment further until we have resolved the issue with our customer directly."

In a statement passed to China Daily by spokesman Jason Betts, Virgin Atlantic said, "We are aware of an issue on a recent flight and would like to reassure the customer that we are taking her claims seriously and are fully investigating the circumstances. The safety and wellbeing of our passengers is always our priority, and we will continue to speak directly with the customer to ensure the situation is resolved."

In a later statement, provided by spokeswoman Louise Holding, Virgin Atlantic said, "we are aware of the concern around the alleged incident on flight VS250. We are a multinational company with zero tolerance of racism."

The carrier declined to provide any further details, adding "this is an ongoing investigation."

The report, about the Chinese female passenger, on the Virgin flight VS250 on March 1, 2016, who said she was insulted by a Caucasian male passenger and subsequently allegedly ignored by a flight attendant, went viral on social media in China.

By late Thursday Beijing time, over 5 million users had read about the issue on the Chinese social media site Weibo, which is similar to a hybrid of Twitter and Facebook.

Contact writer: wangmingjie@mail.chinadailyuk.com