According to Yang Xiaobin, the airport's vice-president, the pet dog escaped its cage kennel and ran all the way from the entrance of the baggage carousel toward the taxiway.
"We chased the dog for 10 minutes but failed to catch it. It's 4:35 pm when the dog ran into the taxiway and flight CZ3120 of China Southern Airlines was scheduled to land a minute later," said Yang. "To ensure air safety, we had no choice but to shoot the dog," he was reported as saying.
The dog's owner, Ni Bin, 52, said she asked for the surveillance video immediately after the incident but was refused.
Ms Ni's daughter said they were shown a 15-second video clip taken in a storehouse in which staff were seen chasing the dog. She said she was told that there was no surveillance outside the storehouse on the road.
Ms Ni said she found it hard to believe that her small dog could break out of its cage and she suspected someone had tried to steal Ge Ge.
Mr Yang admitted that the staff should have been trained better to catch escaped pets.
"We should have given the owner a clear explanation promptly, instead of making her wait for two days," he was quoted as saying.
The incident has drawn condemnation from Chinese web users, with thousands slamming the brutal manner in which the dog was killed.
Photos of the bloody body of Ge Ge, as well as the cage, were posted on Sina.com's popular microblog Weibo.
Web users posted a report of a similar incident at England's Manchester Airport on December 17 which led to a dozen flights being delayed but ended with the airport staff catching the dog, not killing it.
