Light of China Eastern People in the Decade of Development

In the past ten years, China Eastern has made tremendous progress in high-quality development with its airlines as the core business. At present, it has more than 100,000 employees and is the seventh-largest airline in the world. China Eastern has extended its route network to 1062 destinations in 170 countries and regions around the world, which can provide air travel services for 150 million people annually.

Ordinary people in China Eastern from different countries and different types of work, sharing the same blue sky dream, witness and contribute to the growth of the company, and find greatness in everyday work.

Here we have a five-star captain who has flown safely for nearly 20,000 hours, recent influencers — aircraft maintenance crew called “airplane bye-bye man” on social media, the flight attendant with top skills competing for world events, and the sky chef who traveled from afar to pursue his dream here. These ordinary people shape new momentum for the development of China Eastern with their experience, participation and witness.

Wang Xiaoyong: The Escort of Chinese Vaccines

Captain Wang Xiaoyong was still very proud when he recalled the chartered intercontinental flight he flew in 2021 for China’s first all-cargo aircraft to transport COVID-19 vaccines. As a five-star captain, he led the team to send “hope” as quickly as possible. When the flight carrying 1.05 million COVID-19 vaccines and syringes was about to arrive in Dominica, the Dominica air traffic controller said “Thank you China, thank the cabin crew, and thank the Chinese vaccine” via the Air-Ground Channel. At that moment, he truly felt the lofty mission and responsibility of his career which narrows the distance between mountains and seas around the world.

Joao Carlos Juliani: The Brazilian Captain finds a taste of home in China’s Three Gorges

Juliani has been working in China for nearly 10 years and heard passengers talking about oranges as delicious as his hometown in Zigui county, the hometown of navel oranges in China, during flights all over the world. So he took an in-depth trip to the county, also Qu Yuan’s hometown, and got a taste of home there. By working with fruit farmers and seeing how China’s modern agriculture and e-commerce work, he witnessed the better life of Chinese people after rural revitalization as well as the magnificent Yangtze River, the majestic Three Gorges Dam, and the splendid Chinese culture.

Fraceschini Martina: Inheritor of Marco Polo

Martina from the Rome Business Department has loved Chinese culture since childhood, and gave herself a nice Chinese name Ma Huixin, hoping to have a heart of wisdom. Being fluent in both Chinese and Italian, she often proudly introduces her work to friends and clients, “It took Marco Polo 4 years to travel from Rome to China. Now, with our China Eastern Airlines flight, all you need to do is to sleep soundly on the A350 wide-body aircraft, and then wake up in Shanghai with a view of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower.” During the COVID-19 pandemic, she participated in several flight supports, and the most memorable one was the first China medical flight carrying 9 Chinese medical experts and 31 tons of epidemic prevention supplies, which reflected the long-lasting friendship between China and Italy, two ancient civilizations.

Ludwig Strobel: German Sky Chef’s Journey to Eastern Flavor

Ludwig from Germany has been the executive chef for many years and in the western food industry for 40 years. Since joining Shanghai Eastern Air Catering Company, he has been studying the integration of Chinese and Western culinary cultures, and achieved continuous breakthroughs in cuisine innovation. Aviation is the bridge of culture, and taste is the bond of emotion. Together with his Chinese colleagues, he created a Chinese-Western in-flight meal, so that both Chinese and Western passengers could enjoy a feast of taste buds on China Eastern flights.

Chen Yifan: The breakthrough in World Skills Competition inspires research and development in training

Chen Yifan, the flight attendant training instructor of the R&D Center, once participated in the 44th World Skills Competition on behalf of China and won the restaurant service project award, achieving a zero breakthrough for the Chinese team in this project.

She used the international service concept and skills learned in World Skills to promote the company’s service standards, and designed the “Exclusive Journey” service course to improve the front-line service skills and better serve passengers from all over the world.

Yuan Zhexun: Aircraft “heart” specialists with ingenuity and innovation

Yuan Zhexun, an aircraft engine engineer, has been working on aircraft “heart” health testing for eight years. He detects the internal condition of the engine by borescope technology to quickly find and measure defects, as well as assists in quality control. Moreover, he uses historical detection data as support to iterate the image detection algorithm of the deep neural network, accurately diagnose the health of the engine by AI technology, and make more accurate maintenance decisions so as to make the “heartbeat” of the aircraft steady.

Zhan Xiuxia: Black technology enhances smart travel at Daxing Airport

Beijing Daxing International Airport, the new gateway, was officially put into use on September 25, 2019. Zhan Xiuxia, a ground service staff who has more than ten years of first-line experience, is often amazed at the scenes used to see in science fiction movies become a part of daily life. Here at Daxing, the staff of China Eastern wears smart glasses to serve inbound and outbound passengers. With this device, they can quickly find passengers who have not boarded the plane, identify their flight information by facial recognition, and remind them of security checks and boarding. At the same time, passengers only need “one ID” and scan faces to complete the whole process from security checks to boarding, which making travel intelligent and efficient and greatly improving the service quality.

Diego Benedetto: The Italian Captain’s “Chinese Life”

40 years ago, Italian pilot Diego came to China for the first time because of a flight mission. After 40 years, he came to China again and chose to continue his career with China Eastern Airlines. He was impressed by the tremendous development of China over the past 40 years and said, “Now I live in China, it feels like living in the future. China is the future, and I look forward to flying aircraft made in China around the globe.”

Magand Lucine Mathilde: Shanghai story of French Stewardess

Lucine, a French girl who loves Chinese language, has studied Chinese at Shanghai Jiaotong University for 3 years. Being able to speak fluent Chinese is the best key for her to integrate into a city. In Shanghai, she not only found the other half of her life, but also became a stewardess of China Eastern Airlines. “There are more and more flights between China and France, which proves that the relationship between the two countries is getting better and better, and the distance between the two countries is getting closer and closer,” she said. That is also the reason she chose a job as a flight attendant. She has witnessed the distance between China and France is getting closer and closer through the “air bridge”.

Tomoko Setoguchi: Two-decade work for the rainbow bridge between China and Japan

Tomoko Setoguchi has worked in the Kagoshima Business Department of China Eastern Japan Branch for 20 years. She likes Shanghai very much, and she feels so lucky that her work in China Eastern improves the connection of her hometown Kagoshima with Shanghai, one of the fastest-growing cities in the world, and the two cities could share development opportunities. In the past 20 years, she has been committed to bringing more Japanese friends to see a real China.

Source: China Eastern Airlines