On March 16, Cathay Pacific Airways operated a special flight that saw 115 secondary school students aged 14 to 16 from Tung Chung and Sham Shui Po take to the skies over Hong Kong for an experience of a lifetime. Many of those on board were taking their first-ever flight.

The theme for the day was "English on Air", an extension of a programme which has seen secondary students from Tung Chung meeting with native-English-speaking Cathay Pacific volunteers to practise their oral English skills as well as learn more about the aviation industry.

During March 16's event, the students were encouraged to brush up their English conversational skills by talking to the airline's staff and a group of 18 multinational exchange students from the Chinese University of Hong Kong who also joined the flight.

Host for the occasion was Cathay Pacific Chief Executive Tony Tyler who was there to welcome the special passengers and join them for the flight.

"We are pleased to be able to operate this unique community flight and help local youngsters improve their English skills at the same time as learning more about the aviation industry," Mr. Tyler said. "English is the international language of aviation, and any of the students here looking to pursue a career in the industry will need to have a good command of the language."

The 105 Tung Chung students from March 16's flight were selected from seven secondary schools - Caritas Charles Vath College, Ho Yu College and Primary School (Sponsored by Sik Sik Yuen), HKFEW Wong Cho Bau Secondary School, Ling Liang Church E Wan Secondary School, Po Leung Kuk Mrs Ma Kam Ming - Cheung Fook Sien College, Tung Chung Catholic School and YMCA of Hong Kong Christian College.

Cathay Pacific also worked with a non-governmental organisation - the Society for Community Organization - to select a further 10 students from Sham Shui Po district.

The 110-minute flight took the students over the South China Sea and gave everyone the opportunity to enjoy the state-of-the-art entertainment facilities on board the new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, specially painted in the "Asia's world city" livery. Everyone was served food and drinks by Cathay Pacific cabin crew before the students settled in to fill out their souvenir Travel Logbook.

The "English on Air" community flight was the second such flight to be operated by Cathay Pacific for the Tung Chung community. The airline is a major employer among residents of the airport satellite town and in recent years has been working to develop closer ties with the people who live there. Cathay Pacific staff are in the process of setting up a volunteer group that will take part in a number of community activities for the benefit of Tung Chung people.

Photograph 1: Cathay Pacific Chief Executive Tony Tyler is joined by Cathay Pacific pilots and cabin crew and some of the 115 local students on board the special English on Air flight.

Photograph 2: Students ask Cathay Pacific Chief Executive Tony Tyler on ways they can improve their English if they would like to have a career in the aviation business.

Photograph 3: Excited secondary students from Tung Chung get their very first boarding passes.

Photograph 4: Cathay Pacific Second Officer Christopher Wan shares his aviation experience with the students.