China’s top guns pilot first flights from Beijing Daxing airport

The cream of China’s commercial aviation industry were aboard the first flights to take off from the 80 billion yuan (US$11 billion) Beijing Daxing International Airport on Wednesday, just hours after it was officially opened by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Seven flights took off from 4:23pm with just minutes between each departure from China’s largest and newest airport, all crewed by the airlines’ top guns on their flagship aircraft, according to CAAC News, a news portal run by the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

China Southern Airlines flight 3001 – the first commercial flight off the tarmac – was piloted by Zhang Tao, who has been flying for 25 years and is a pilot trainer for the carrier’s A380 fleet.

The cabin crew included four chief flying attendants, one with more than 24 years’ experience and 19,000 flying hours.

China Eastern Airlines sent four pilots to fly an Airbus 350 from Daxing to Shanghai’s Pudong airport, led by Tang Hongxing, general manager of the Shanghai arm of the flying department. Tang’s record is 23,000 accident-free flying hours.

He was joined by Hou Dandong, the airline’s general manager for the A350 model, Wu Kun, A350 technical chief, and Xie Yuanzheng, the veteran who trained each of them in the maiden flight, and was invited to fly with them on the historic occasion.

Capital Air sent Li Daxing, general manager of its flying department, to pilot its maiden flight – to Hangzhou, in the eastern province of Zhejiang – in an A330 which was decorated for the occasion with a new design featuring iconic Beijing buildings.

“This is a moment to remember – to fly the first flight in Daxing ahead of the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China,” Li told reporters. “This airport will contribute to the development of our country.”

A China United Airlines Boeing 737 was the first of the inaugural flights from Daxing to arrive at its destination – Yanan in the northwestern province of Shaanxi. It was flown by Cai Yifeng, the airline’s chief pilot, with a deputy general manager from the cabin department heading the cabin crew.

The airlines gave out pin badges, stuffed toys and postcards with commemorative stamps to passengers as souvenirs.

Travellers with China Southern Airlines were also given personalised mementos, with cartoon artists drawing sketches for them at the departure gate.