Country for PR: China
Contributor: Xinhua News Agency
Tuesday, April 09 2019 - 17:52
AsiaNet
China Eastern Airlines kicks off the new A350-900 service for its Shanghai-Roman route
SHANGHAI, China, April 9, 2019 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/ --

Service integrated with Chinese and Italian cultural characteristics

China Eastern Airlines recently announced that its round-trip route between 
Shanghai and Rome (MU787/788) uses the latest Airbus A350-900 aircraft from 
March 31, 2019, providing elegant and comfortable trip to and from Italy at the 
8th anniversary of launching this route.

Flight MU787 is estimated to depart from Pudong Airport, Shanghai at 12:35, and 
arrive at Rome Fiumicino Airport at 19:10 local time. Meanwhile flight MU788 
would depart from Rome at 21:10 local time, and arrive at Shanghai Pudong 
Airport at 14:35 the next day. 

China Eastern Airlines addressed that since the opening of the route in March 
2011, the Shanghai-Rome flight has increased from the initial three shifts per 
week to seven shifts per week. Over the past eight years, more than one million 
passengers have chosen China Eastern Airlines to travel between China and 
Italy, which formed The "Silk Road" in the air for the exchange between the two 
countries. In order to better serve passengers and increase travel comfort, 
China Eastern Airlines replaced the aircraft for Shanghai-Rome route with the 
latest A350 aircraft, providing high-quality travel services to passengers with 
new on-board hardware, software and entertainment facilities.

The Airbus A350-900 has a total of 288 seats, including 4 Luxury Business Class 
seats equipped with two movable sliding doors that can form an independent 
private compartment when closed, and it could become a "social area" that 
accommodates four people when necessary. There are 36 Business Class seats with 
a length of 196cm when fully lied down, equipped with mini bar and 18-inch 
display with Bluetooth headset module. Besides, there are 32 Premium Economy 
Class seats and 216 Economy Class seats, all equipped with 4D headrests, power 
supply and the largest 13-inch display in the industry. The aboard 
entertainment system provides travelers with personalized entertainment 
resources such as latest movies, popular TV shows, games, etc., making the 
journey full of fun. In the meantime, the Air-Ground Internet connection on 
China Eastern Airlines' A350 aircraft is faster with maximum access speed at 
200 m/s, which supplies better Internet surfing experience to passengers.

China and Italy are among the countries with the most cultural heritages in the 
world, witnessing rapid development of bilateral cultural and economic 
exchanges. Teachers and students of an Italian boarding school, Rome Convitto 
Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele II, wrote to Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of 
his state visit to Italy and received the president's reply. The school is a 
prestigious school and its students are keen to learn Chinese and Chinese 
culture. China Eastern Airlines launched cooperation with the school for six 
consecutive years since 2013, providing service such as direct flights to China 
for almost 1000 teachers and students to assist them in Chinese language 
training since then. 

In November 2015, China Eastern Airlines recruited Italian flight attendants in 
Italy. 12 beautiful and talented women became attendants of China Eastern 
Airlines at last. Among them, an Italian girl named Giada who participated in 
the "49th World Tourism Ambassador" competition and crowned "Miss Italy", has 
turned to become a part of the beautiful landscape in China Eastern Airlines 
together with her other 11 Italian colleagues and over 10 Italian ground staff, 
with their efforts and enthusiasm to be part of Sino-Italian cultural promotion 
activities in the Airlines such as "Foreign Staff celebrating China Year" and 
"Italian Food Year". At the end of 2018, Rome Airport, local tourism department 
and the leaders of China Eastern Airlines jointly held a celebration to 
congratulate a Chinese female tourist to become the 15 millionth arrival 
passenger at the airport in 2018.

In 2018, Italy attracted more than 2 million Chinese tourists. It has become 
one of the most popular tourist destinations for Chinese tourists in Europe. 
The per capita consumption of Chinese tourists in Italy is also ranked among 
the top foreign tourists. 2019 is the 15th anniversary of the establishment of 
China-Italy comprehensive strategic partnership, which brings new development 
opportunities for economic and cultural exchanges between two countries, which 
also offers chances of development in Italy for airlines including China 
Eastern Airlines.

Source: China Eastern Airlines

Image Attachments Links:

   Link: https://iop.asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=333619

   Caption: Teachers and students of Rome Convitto Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele 
II travel to China to study and exchange on China Eastern Airlines.