Air China officials informed CARNOC.com that the airline's First Class lounge located in the International Terminal of Beijing Capital International Airport's (BCIA) Terminal 3 (T3) has been awarded "Lounge of The Year 2009 - Highly Commended" status by the world's largest independent airport lounge program, Priority Pass.

It's understood by CARNOC.com that the award status was only given based on the results of a member survey conducted by Priority Pass. According to details provided to CARNOC.com, the particular survey recorded over 16,000 votes in total from the Priority Pass program's then valid members.

CARNOC.com was told by Air China that the airline officially started its collaboration with Priority Pass in 1999 and close to 30,000 Priority Pass members used Air China-owned airport lounges last year.