At the 4th Portugal-China Gala held last week, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa presented the Outstanding Company Award to Beijing Capital Airlines.

This award recognises the positive contributions that the airline's non-stop service between the two countries makes in terms of bilateral economic and cultural exchanges.

Beijing Capital Airlines launched the Hangzhou-Chengdu-Madrid route in 2016. The two international routes have increased Beijing Capital Airlines' brand awareness outside of China, most notably in Spain and Portugal.

As we reported earlier in the week, the recruitment of flight attendants originating from outside of its home market is also an important step in Beijing Capital Airlines' overall globalization strategy which calls for preparing a professional workforce for more intercontinental routes scheduled to be launched in 2018 and for bringing its quality services in line with all international standards.

"As the only direct flight service between China and Portugal, the Beijing-Lisbon route provides a comprehensive service package for passengers. Given that many passengers from Portugal and neighbouring countries can be expected to travel on the Beijing-Lisbon route and who may have different expectations from the airline's domestic travellers, we will be diversifying our cabin crew team through the recruitment program, in a move to better serve our passengers and create a distinctive crew service system," a spokesperson explained.

A move to diversify the nationalities of the flight staff, and, in the case of the new service, a focus on recruitment of attendants of Portuguese nationality, will help improve the service experience of the route, facilitate the development of mainstream tourist markets, promote the interconnection between China and Portuguese-speaking countries and contribute to the formation of an economic area as envisioned by the Belt and Road Initiative.