Hainan Airlines Awarded the SKYTRAX Five-Star Airline Designation for 5th Consecutive Year

HAIKOU, China, June 17, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- SKYTRAX, a global provider of professional aviation evaluation services, presented the SKYTRAX Five-Star Airline award to Hainan Airlines Co., Ltd. for the 5^th consecutive year on June 16th local time. Hainan Airlines was also honored with the designation as Best China Airline and received the Best China Airline Staff Service. Hainan Airlines president Xie Haoming attended the award ceremony and accepted the awards.

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SKYTRAX annually evaluates each airline's airport and cabin services in all respects, with five stars being the highest rating. In order to make sure that the results are fair and justified, SKYTRAX's evaluators each book themselves onto a flight of the airlines they have been assigned to evaluate in order to experience the quality of each carrier's services personally. SKYTRAX is a London-based aviation survey and research organization and a world leading provider of professional aviation and airport quality rating services.

This is the 5^th year in a row that Hainan Airlines has received the SKYTRAX five-star airline designation, a honor that is only bestowed on carriers than continually provide travelers with five-star services. At the award ceremony, SKYTRAX President Edward Plaisted presented the award to the airline's president and congratulated the airline. "I'm pleased to once again present the award to Hainan Airlines. It not only is an honor for Hainan Airlines, but also allows SKYTRAX witness the growth and development of the airline."

The ability of the airline to let the aviation community and the traveling public become aware of and acknowledge the airline's core strengths can be attributed to the airlines ability in maintaining a young mindset. As a young airline, Hainan Airlines, leveraging its late-mover advantage in terms of competition, can incorporate new technologies faster, identify market and customer demand more promptly as well as respond to and make the necessary changes to meet that demand quickly. Another advantage is the airline's service culture which is rooted in China's traditional etiquette culture, letting travelers feel properly attended to and cared for throughout the journey.

Xie explained that Hainan Airlines, since inception, has been delivering world-class services with an Oriental touch, and has continued to do so even as the carrier evolved from a local operator to a national one then to a world-class one. "We are excited and honored that Hainan Airlines was recognized as the SKYTRAX Five-Star Airline for the 5^th straight year."

Hainan Airlines has been operating with safety as the prime mission for 22 years and has accumulated more than 4.5 million hours of safe flights, maintaining an outstanding safety record. The airline's extensive network of routes comprehensively covers China and Asia and extends to Europe and North America, with over 600 domestic and international routes flying to more than 90 cities worldwide, including, in Europe, major destinations such as Rome, Paris, Berlin, Brussels and Moscow. In June of this year, Hainan Airlines added three direct flights between China and the US, Beijing-San Jose, Shanghai-Seattle and Shanghai-Boston, furthering expanding its presence in the North American market and growing its network.