JDB Group, Tianjin Airlines to finance free flights home

JDB Group, the Chinese manufacturer of nonalcoholic beverages based in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, is cooperating with Tianjin Airlines Co Ltd to donate 100 air tickets to poorer migrant workers and students, so they can get home for the Spring Festival, which falls on Feb 8 this year.

This year's hectic transportation period for the holidays starts on Jan 24, and lasts until March 3 when an estimated 54.55 million trips will be taken by air, according to the authorities.

However, for some poorer people wanting to go home for the traditional family gathering, tickets can be expensive and hard to book.

The two firms are also working with Tujia.com, a house-sharing platform, and other enterprises to charter a flight from Tianjin to Wuhan in Hubei province on Jan 24, and the exact number of free tickets still depends on how many applicants submitted before the deadline - Jan 20.

But for sure, the tickets will be provided predominantly to poor migrant workers and students living and studying in Tianjin, whose hometowns are in Hubei.

Spring Festival is peak season for Chinese airlines, but officials at the airlines and the other companies involved in the initiative said it is their duty at the time of the year to think of those less fortunate.

Wei Guangbo, Tujia.com's online marketing director, said: "We hope those who receive tickets will feel like we care about them as they travel home.

"Our brand's philosophy is all about feeling at home, no matter where you are."

Besides the charter flight, Tianjin Airlines is also providing other free tickets to poor students attending some 20 colleges in Tianjin.

This is the third year that JDB has organized to send people home for the festival. Tianjin Airlines, too, has been behind several public service activities to help migrant workers and students living in the city and other regions, take flights for free.

A year ago, the airlines provided 100 free tickets from Tianjin to Zhengzhou in Henan province, to migrant workers.

Its Vice-President Wang Yu, said: "We have donated air tickets worth almost 1 million yuan ($151,000) over the past six years."

wangwen@chinadaily.com.cn