Authoritative data predicts that from January 26 to March 5, the total volume of cross-regional personnel movement nationwide is expected to reach 9 billion person-trips, with commercial passenger transport by rail, road, water, and civil aviation all rebounding across the board.

Recalling the recently concluded Spring Festival of the Year of the Dragon, Sun Yibo, who works in Shanghai, had only one word in mind—fulfilling. During the Spring Festival holiday, Sun Yibo first flew back to his hometown in Shenyang to spend a reunion New Year with the family elders. Then, on the third day of the Lunar New Year, he and his parents flew to Yunnan for an independent trip, and did not return to Shanghai to switch into "work mode" until the holiday ended.

With the rapid economic development of recent years, "going home" is no longer the key word of the Spring Festival. More and more people, like Sun Yibo, use the Spring Festival holiday for family visits, travel, and entertainment. The homebound flow, family-visit flow, student flow, and tourism flow... Since the start of the Spring Festival travel rush, railway stations, airports, and passenger transport hubs across the country have been bustling with crowds, complemented by ubiquitous Spring Festival decorations such as Year of the Dragon-themed stickers, lanterns, and Chinese knots, forming a vivid microcosm of "mobile China."

This is one day during the Spring Festival travel rush. Miao Shen, captain of the Fourth Squadron of the Ninth Brigade of the Flight Corps of Air China Limited (hereinafter referred to as "Air China"), has arrived early at the flight preparation room as usual—signing in, taking the alcohol test, printing the flight assignment sheet, and confirming the flight arrangements for the upcoming CA1497/8 (Beijing–Xichang) round-trip flight.

While organizing the prepared flight materials and carefully reviewing the day's weather data, Miao Shen mentally walked through each stage of the flight mission according to procedure. During the Spring Festival travel rush, Miao Shen is more cautious than usual: "Operating Spring Festival travel rush flights gives me a stronger sense of mission." To this end, he repeatedly scrutinizes flight details, confirms flight contingency plans, and ensures that all preparations are adequate.

"Adequate preparation" has always been the foundation of the work of pilots in the Air China Flight Corps. The reporter learned that one month before the start of the Spring Festival travel rush, the brigades and squadrons of the Air China Flight Corps, based on the characteristics of previous Spring Festival travel rushes, had already made multiple contingency plans, scientifically calculated the required flight manpower according to the possible increase in flights, and reasonably arranged crew pairing and pilot standby duties, so as to ensure the normal operation of Spring Festival travel rush flights to the greatest extent.

"Spring Festival travel rush flights usually have a higher load factor than usual. With the aircraft fully loaded, higher requirements are placed on aircraft performance and pilot operation, requiring pilots to be more precise and rigorous in their operations," explained Nie Fangcheng, administrative deputy brigade commander of the Ninth Brigade. In addition to strengthening targeted training, the Air China Flight Corps, relying on brigade meetings, squadron meetings, and safety education, strengthens key reminders to pilots and requires captains to closely monitor the actual flight process.

"Today our flight time is 3 hours, and the flight load is on the heavy side. During the cruise, we need to watch out for turbulence and icing risks. Please make good use of the radar, keep an eye on the weather at all times, coordinate well with the cabin crew, and give timely reminders if there is turbulence..." At the pre-flight briefing, Miao Shen led the crew in carefully studying the flight plan, notices to airmen, and meteorological data, and in getting familiar in advance with alternate airfields according to weather characteristics and route conditions, so as to prepare contingency plans.

After the pre-flight preparations were completed, Miao Shen and the crew members took a vehicle to the apron. After a brief preparation in the cockpit, they put on reflective vests and went out to conduct the walk-around inspection. Bending down to inspect the engine blades, looking up to confirm the condition of the wings... Every inspection and every step was strictly followed according to procedure, meticulously and without negligence. During the flight, Miao Shen and the crew members likewise cooperated closely, constantly monitoring the cruise status and skillfully operating every button.

Three hours and ten minutes later, Miao Shen piloted the aircraft to a smooth landing at Xichang Airport. "Although we do not come into direct contact with passengers, after the aircraft lands, through the cockpit we can often see passengers on the jet bridge pulling their luggage, carrying children, and supporting the elderly, chatting and laughing, and a sense of happiness and fulfillment arises spontaneously. Some passengers also wave to us in greeting, expressing thanks with a smile, and that moment makes me even more firmly committed to my professional pursuit," Miao Shen told the reporter.

It should be noted that for pilots, completing a flight does not mean the work is over. During the Spring Festival travel rush, the Corps implements a dual duty system. In addition to normal flying and standby duties, Miao Shen, as squadron captain, also has to participate in duty shifts.

"Captain Miao, the flight dispatch center just notified us that there is a flight temporarily adjusted. See whether we can take it." Upon receiving the report from the squadron dispatcher, Miao Shen assigned crews according to the flight information and assisted the dispatcher in confirming the status of standby pilots. Because time was tight, he and the dispatcher separately contacted the captain and the backup crew, and after verifying that information such as duty hours was compliant, fed back to the flight dispatch center that the task could be accepted.

While waiting for the flight dispatch center to formally issue the task, Miao Shen did not rest either. Instead, he quickly had a brief exchange with the temporarily adjusted flight crew and provided guidance and reminders. "Preparation, flying, and standby are the 'infinite loop' of us pilots. We must always keep the string of safety taut and complete every flight mission well," Miao Shen said with a smile. As the flight task was issued, the crew quickly entered the operating state, while Miao Shen returned to the duty dispatch room to continue his own Spring Festival travel rush story.

Shifting our perspective from the clouds back to the ground: "Are there any passengers on Air China going to Shiyan?" "Are there any passengers on flight CA1923?" At the security checkpoint of Beijing Capital International Airport during the Spring Festival travel rush, an Air China employee in a red uniform came searching one after another along the security checkpoint, calling out as she searched. A passenger hurriedly picked up the bag that had just come out of the security machine and waved to her. She stepped forward, checked the passenger's boarding pass, and ran with the passenger toward the gate...

"During the Spring Festival travel rush, flight seats are all full. If a passenger misses this flight, there is no telling how long they will have to wait before they can set off again." Just as the employee was speaking, the broadcast sounded again at the nearby gate: "The flight CA1421 to Chengdu will soon close boarding."

In fact, "finding passengers" is one of the important tasks of the staff at the transfer boarding positions of Air China's Ground Services Department. After scanning boarding passes and guiding passengers to board, if the staff find that the number of people does not match, they will query the information of passengers who have not boarded through the system. Under normal circumstances, it takes a passenger at most about ten minutes to get from the security checkpoint to the boarding gate. Therefore, if the system shows that the passenger has passed security, the staff will start the boarding gate broadcast to look for them.

"During the Spring Festival travel rush, flights are almost always full, rebooking is difficult, and waiting times are long," said Meng Lin, integrated service manager for transfer boarding at Air China. "We can deeply understand the feelings of passengers. Therefore, even if we have to run tens of thousands of steps every day in the vast terminal buildings of Beijing Capital International Airport, we always do our utmost to help passengers complete their journeys smoothly."

In Meng Lin's view, the transfer boarding position is the "last link" before passengers board. In addition to the aforementioned work of checking boarding passes and finding passengers, they also have to help special passengers, answer various questions, hand over passenger counts and baggage with the crew, and respond to various emergencies.

At the same time, the transfer boarding position is also the "first link" after passengers arrive in Beijing. After a flight lands, staff need to guide passengers out of the terminal and prepare wheelchairs for special passengers, among other things. For remote-stand flights, staff must arrive at the designated stand 15 minutes in advance to stand by, holding guide signs and waiting until all passengers have boarded the apron shuttle bus.

During the Spring Festival travel rush, almost every flight carries hundreds of passengers, yet the guiding service needs to be completed by one person independently, which is a great test of the staff's professional ability and adaptability. In response to this situation, the Transfer Service Center of the Ground Services Department focuses on comprehensive training of staff and regularly conducts professional and psychological training to help staff better complete various support tasks.

"There are still many situations like this 'one staff member guiding hundreds of passengers,' and such situations are even more common when transfer times are tight," Meng Lin acknowledged. Beijing Capital International Airport handles a large number of transfer flight passengers on a daily basis, and this is even more pronounced during the Spring Festival travel rush. Serving transfer passengers requires staff to connect the "first link" and the "last link."

Although the work can sometimes be very tiring, in Meng Lin's view, enabling passengers to enjoy more refined services and to arrive and depart smoothly and safely are the common goals of employees at transfer boarding positions, and also the constant driving force for them to rush about in the busy terminals during the Spring Festival travel rush.

Authoritative data predicts that from January 26 to March 5, the total volume of cross-regional personnel movement nationwide is expected to reach 9 billion person-trips, with commercial passenger transport by rail, road, water, and civil aviation all rebounding across the board. As a key link in Spring Festival transportation, civil aviation practitioners have chosen to remain at their respective posts, using their sweat and actions to safeguard "mobile China."