Free flights from Tianjin Airlines cut costs for high-flying freshmen
By ZHU WENQIAN
Free freshmen flights have helped 100 students from remote regions save on travel costs to attend Tianjin universities and institutions for the new semester.
The project was launched four years ago by Tianjin Airlines Ltd, a regional carrier set up by Hainan Airlines Group and the Tianjin municipal government to help impoverished students attend college.
Students are eligible for free flights if they attend top universities in Tianjin, including Tianjin University and Nankai University.
“For poor students who live far from their colleges, the travel costs are extremely high,” said Wen Ge, manager of the human resources and administration department at Tianjin Airlines.
During the past four years, the Chinese carrier has helped nearly 300 students by investing 4 million yuan ($606,000) in the program.
Most of the undergraduates live in remote areas, such as the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and Shaanxi, Guizhou and Hainan provinces.
To qualify, students have to perform well in their college entrance examination and receive an offer from a top-tier university. the coastal city.
The 20-year-old received an offer from the mechanical engineering college at the university after qualifying with an excellent exam score.
“I live in a small village which is 300 kilometers from Urumqi and it takes six hours to drive there as the road is being repaired,” he said. “I planned to catch the train to school.
“But the cheapest ticket means the journey takes three days and two nights,” he added. “When I was about to buy the train ticket, I heard that Tianjin Airlines would give me a free flight. I was so excited, as the journey was reduced to four hours from 50 hours.”
Staff at Tianjin Airlines have played their part in the project by escorting students to check-in desks and through security gates before boarding their flights.
“We will take full advantage of the airline’s resources to help students achieve their college dreams,” Wen, from Tianjin Airlines, said.
“We have been focusing on welfare work for children and impoverished students, and we hope that more people can contribute to help them go for further education,” he added.
For poor students who live far from their colleges, the travel costs are extremely high.”
Wen Ge,