BEIJING - Hainan Airlines, China's fourth largest airline, has been expanding internationally since 2008, and expects to see its international growth picking up faster.

It focuses on expanding its overseas market in recent years. It has just opened non-stop flights to Maldives this month, according to Wang Yingming, chairman of HNA Aviation Holdings Co Ltd, the airline's parent company.

The airline already flies to 62 cities in China and has connections to 19 international cities, on 56 routes.

These include Beijing to Berlin, Budapest, Brussels, Zurich, Dubai, Luanda, Moscow and St. Petersburg; Hangzhou to Phuket; and Dalian to Singapore via Hefei. The airline's North American routes cover Seattle and Toronto.

In fact, it is one of the few Chinese airlines to operate nonstop flights from Beijing to these cities, according to Wang.

One sign of the airline's development has been its recognition by SKYTRAX, which is billed as the world's most credible, independent organization for aviation and air transport certification. Hainan was declared China's first five-star airline, in January.

Previously, there were only six SKYTRAX five-star airlines in the world: Asiana (South Korea), Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong), Kingfisher (India), Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways, and Singapore Airlines.

And the evaluation process was a tough one. Company representatives entered and inspected 138 aircraft, flew for 806 hours, traveled to 21 airports, and investigated 625 projects, before the company was recognized as "world class".

Another related, and important, development was the fact that Hainan Airlines transition from four to five-star status only took a year, a milestone for the airline and a rarity among global airlines.

More exciting news came in June when it won the 2011 "Best Chinese Airline" and "Chinese Airline Staff Service Excellence" awards from SKYTRAX.

This was the second consecutive year for the group to win the two awards, and the third time, since 2008, for the company to be named "Best Chinese Airline".

The winners were chosen through a 10-month global survey that included more than 200 airlines, carrying 18.8 million passengers to more than 100 countries.

On Dec 1, for the second time, the company was named as the "Best Airline in China" in the eighth annual GT Tested Reader Survey Awards conducted by Global Traveler Magazine, a well-known and respected magazine in the United States which is read by thousands of upscale travelers, on Dec 1.

The GT Tested Reader Survey Awards are based on an annual poll of readers and selects winners in several categories. The awards have become well known in the eight years they have been conducted. Average income of readers exceeds $340,000, and GT readers have an average 32 round trips per year. Ninety-five percent of the readers have taken a foreign trip in the past three years, averaging a total of 16 trips. Nearly all readers travel premium class internationally.

But Hainan Airline is not new to such honors. Since 1998, it has gained the Chinese civil aviation industry's "Customer Satisfaction" award 10 times in a row.

It has also won the Civil Aviation Administration of China's (CAAC) Golden Eagle award and Golden Roc award for safety, and in 2011, got CAAC's three-star award for flight safety.

Service

Edward Plaisted, president of SKYTRAX, had this to say about the award system: "In terms of development trends, there are three alliances - Star Alliance, Oneworld and SkyTeam - emerging in global aviation, and airlines are entering an era of competition. Those airlines that offer distinct services will definitely have a larger market share over the next 10 years."

As concerns competition, Plaisted went on to say, "The aviation market in the future will be increasingly dependent on services rather than the size and market position of a company."

As if to prove his idea about competition, Hainan Airlines has made service a major concern and has a "Customer First" strategy that allows it to provide a range of customized services.

The company has said it is dedicated to "honesty, performance, and innovation" and wants to become the airline of choice for most passengers and a premier Chinese brand.

It has increased spending on, and training in, 55 areas, such as cabin comfort, Beijing terminal and ground services, food and drink, and attendants' foreign language and communication skills to improve its entire chain of products and services.

Its terminal and ground services at Beijing's Capital Airport have put it among the best domestic airlines.

One example of the improved services is its VIP rooms at the Beijing airport, which are five-star level and have been expanded from 472 square meters to 1,600, allowing them to accommodate 206 passengers.

The VIP rooms in Haikou, the capital of Hainan province, cover 473 sq m and are at the same as those in Beijing.

The airline has nine bases, in the cities of Beijing, Haikou, Xi'an, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Taiyuan, Dalian, Lanzhou, and Urumqi.

The seats in its aircraft were cited by SKYTRAX in its World Travel award, as being the coziest in the country.

The company also owns nine food suppliers that can supply daily provisions for 88,500 passengers.

The company says that its food services give travelers the feeling that they are dining in a top restaurant, and it offers "dine-one-demand" services for long international flights.

The company was founded on May 2, 1993, in Hainan province, an island in the South China Sea and China's largest special economy zone.

It has a fleet of mainly Boeing 737s and 767s, and Airbus A330s and 340s for both passengers and cargo.

China Daily

(China Daily 12/06/2011 page15)