The "sunglasses hero" frequently spreads its wings and soars high, this summer's fleet | sunglasses | spreads its wings and soars high
The A350 "Sunglasses Man" has been deployed again. At 11:30 am on August 9, 2023, the MU5409 flight from Shanghai Hongqiao to Chengdu Shuangliu is making final preparations before takeoff. Due to the black border outside the cockpit window resembling sunglasses, the A350 aircraft is also known as the "sunglasses hero" by flight enthusiasts.
Around this A350 aircraft, Captain Ji Honghua conducted a winding inspection of various parts such as the external structure, wings, fuselage, engine, and landing gear. After waiting for the aircraft to complete fuel refueling, Ji Honghua returned to the cockpit and confirmed with the maintenance personnel that the aircraft was in airworthiness, and confirmed with the flight crew that all cabin work was ready. At this point, a clean, tidy, spacious, and bright plane officially welcomed 245 passengers.
On that day, China Eastern Airlines transported over 390000 passengers and maintained a high passenger flow. It is precisely because of the high number of summer passengers and the strong demand for travel in the domestic market that flagship wide body aircraft like the A350 have significantly increased their attendance rate in the domestic market compared to before, operating more than 30 short haul flights per day.
On November 29, 2018, China Eastern Airlines launched its first A350-900, which stands out in the industry for its private business cabin and world-class cabin configuration. Up to now, the "sunglasses hero" has been in China for 5 years, and China Eastern Airlines Flight Department has developed a fleet of A350 aircraft to have 280 pilots and 18 aircraft.
Regarding the differences between this year's summer travel and previous years, Xu Huiqin, assistant to the A350 aircraft engineer at China Eastern Airlines, has a deep understanding: "I mainly fly the A350. During the peak season of production this year, the number of flights has increased significantly, and the passenger occupancy rate of A350 wide body aircraft is basically high." From July 1st to 31st, the Shanghai Flight Department of China Eastern Airlines flew a total of 1378 flights, with a safe flight time of 5201 hours and a new record high monthly operating time.
At present, China Eastern Airlines focuses on using A350 aircraft to stably fly between Chengdu Shuangliu and Beijing Daxing, as well as domestic routes from Shanghai to Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xiamen, Sanya, Hong Kong, and other cities; Simultaneously and orderly fly international routes from Wenzhou to Rome, as well as from Shanghai to Tokyo, Osaka, Singapore, Sydney, Madrid, and other destinations. As the summer tourism market continues to heat up, popular tourist destinations such as Xinjiang and Xi'an are highly favored by tourists. China Eastern Airlines has also optimized and adjusted its capacity configuration, using A350 aircraft to fly popular tourist routes from Shanghai to Urumqi, Xi'an Xianyang, Chongqing Jiangbei, Shenzhen, etc., to improve service quality and passenger comfort.