Air China staff members perform at CATA 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Air China

On November 3, the China ­National Aviation Holding Corporation Limited (Air China) attended the first aviation conference held by the China Air Transport Association (CATA). At the event, it exhibited the latest results of its development as well as its history, spirit and high-quality aviation services.     

As the only national flag carrier flight company, Air China actively serves national development strategies with its pioneering spirit. The special exhibition zone for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) showed Air China's practices and progress in fulfilling the master proposal over the past 10 years.

Over the past decade, the number of BRI partner countries available for Air China flights increased from five to 26, flight routes were increased from 21 to 59, and flight destinations rose from seven to 38, gradually formed an air corridor that ­connect BRI partner countries. 

In the "Paired Assistance" exhibition area, Air China introduced its special "Aviation+" assistance mode targeting poverty areas in the Sonid Right Banner, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and Zhaoping county in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The program comprehensively improves local development in industry, talent, culture, environment and organization. 

Air China has been focusing on a people-centered philosophy of development, consolidating its advantages in safety production, improving service quality, accelerating digital transformation, science and technology self-reliance, and practicing green development. 

Air China's "international express" and "smart transportation" service products, the application of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System in freight aircraft, its large aircraft approach & landing energy trajectory model, and green aviation and green transportation has emphasized the company's practices in operation safety, service quality, low carbon emissions and smart development. 

The Air China booth at CATA 2023 Photo: Courtesy of Air China

Benefiting from 2023's surge in domestic travel, China's aviation industry is experiencing a rapid recovery and fueling the country's economic revival. Air China recorded profit gain from June to September, according to its quarterly report. 

Among three major Chinese flight companies, Air China ranked first in growth with a net profit of 4.24 billion yuan ($579.76 million) in the third quarter. 

The industry's quarterly ­passenger traffic also hit a record high. Chinese civil aviation transported 180 million passengers in the third quarter, up 108.3 percent year-on-year. This was also a 2.6 percent increase from the same period in pre-pandemic 2019, according to data released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Besides domestic travel, Air China is also resuming operations in overseas markets. Air China resumed its direct flights between Beijing and San Francisco on November 1, with two round-trip flights on Wednesdays and Saturdays, which was announced by the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco on October 22. 

During the CATA aviation conference, Air China also set ­exhibition areas for its subsidiaries Shenzhen Airlines and Shandong Airlines, displaying their operations, service culture and featured services. The exhibition also displays the deepening cooperation and coordination between Air China and its two subsidiaries. 

In today's new development era, Air China has pledged to shoulder its major responsibility as a leading Chinese flight ­company to advance the ­country's aviation industry to a global level, accelerate and strengthen high-quality development to facilitate Chinese modernization, and make efforts to improve passengers' flight experience.