In the high altitude of ten thousand meters, the New Year atmosphere is strong. Passengers catching flights on New Year's Eve also don't miss the Spring Festival Gala.

Watching the Spring Festival Gala is one of the shared memories of the Chinese New Year. However, many travelers are still catching flights on New Year’s Eve—will they miss the Gala? This year’s answer is different from previous years.

On February 16th, at 8 p.m., the CCTV Spring Festival Gala for the Year of the Horse officially kicked off. On the China Eastern Airlines MU5125 flight from Shanghai Hongqiao to Beijing Capital, a broadcast announced: “‘Splendid China · Harmonious Spring,’ today is the lunar New Year’s Eve. On this holiday filled with beauty and happiness, all our crew members send you our sincerest greetings! To ensure you don’t miss any moment of the New Year’s celebration during your journey, and to let you feel the reunion and joy even in the air, this flight is specially offering free high-speed Wi-Fi service throughout. Welcome to connect and use it.”

It turns out, this flight was a “Cloud Viewing Spring Festival Gala · Wonderful Chinese New Year” themed flight. Under the guidance of the flight attendants, many passengers took out their phones and tablets, opened video apps, and watched the Spring Festival Gala.

Passengers watching the Gala from 10,000 meters above in the airplane.

“Initially, I planned to watch the replay tomorrow, but I didn’t expect a surprise on the plane. The key is, the in-flight internet really doesn’t lag when watching the Gala. This is my first time experiencing this,” said one passenger.

According to reports, thanks to China Eastern’s continuous technological upgrades, the in-flight Wi-Fi bandwidth has been further improved, ensuring smooth viewing of the Gala: Geostationary satellites orbit 36,000 kilometers above the ground establish links between onboard equipment and ground stations via radio waves, enabling data exchange between the onboard servers and the ground backbone network. Multiple systems work together to provide stable, high-speed internet connectivity at 10,000 meters altitude.

This in-flight internet surprise is not limited to just one flight. Just before the Spring Festival this year, China Eastern announced that from 12 p.m. on New Year’s Eve to 1 a.m. the next day, all wide-body flights would offer free high-speed Wi-Fi, covering nearly 200 flights across six continents and 29 countries and regions, benefiting nearly 50,000 passengers worldwide.

“Can watch the New Year’s greeting video my daughter sent just by opening it!” “I opened the family group chat and managed to grab a red envelope at the same time!” On the flight, passengers could shop for New Year’s goods, book family banquet packages, and plan holiday travel anytime and anywhere, injecting cloud-powered energy into “Happy Shopping for the New Year.”

In recent years, China’s civil aviation domestic market has become highly competitive. China Eastern has proposed a “Three Flights” strategy: “Fly far, fly internationally, fly to emerging markets.” Meanwhile, it aims to gain passenger recognition through “strengthening the ticket,” exploring new competitive routes, and creating its own distinctive competitive advantages. In-flight Wi-Fi is one of these strategies.

In August 2023, China Eastern broke through the industry bottleneck where connectivity was impossible below 3,000 meters, becoming the first domestic airline to achieve continuous internet from takeoff to landing. To date, all 113 of China Eastern’s wide-body aircraft are equipped with “air-ground connectivity” functions.

Starting August 2025, China Eastern will expand free Wi-Fi service on domestic “Air Express” flights from first class and business class to super economy and designated economy seats; in October of the same year, the airline upgraded the “Air Express” Wi-Fi service, providing basic Wi-Fi for all economy class seats on wide-body domestic flights. From January 1, 2026, all wide-body aircraft flying within mainland China will fully implement free in-flight Wi-Fi coverage.

Additionally, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, China Eastern’s in-flight Wi-Fi service was further upgraded—starting from 1 a.m. Beijing time on February 17, it officially extended free Wi-Fi to international routes, covering flights between mainland China and neighboring countries, regions, as well as Australia and New Zealand.

China Eastern added an “International Entry Card” online filling portal on its Wi-Fi homepage. Passengers on wide-body international flights can scan the QR code on the “In-Flight Wi-Fi Connection Guide Card” on the seatback to complete their electronic entry form online, making entry into China more convenient.

The festive atmosphere was strong on the themed flight.

Service competition also extended to details beyond Wi-Fi. On that day, almost all airlines launched New Year-themed flights. The festive atmosphere on MU5125 began at boarding, with ground staff and crew dressed in holiday attire, holding decorations and banners with slogans like “Watch the Spring Festival Gala from 10,000 meters,” “Fly over mountains and seas, hearts toward reunion,” and “Reunion on New Year’s Eve, companionship in the clouds,” greeting each passenger with warm smiles.

Inside the themed cabin, couplets and “Fu” characters were scattered throughout, with phrases like “Success at the start” and “Good luck in the Year of the Horse,” filling the cabin with festive cheer.

The meal on the themed flight also featured New Year’s specialties.

The “Cloud New Year’s Eve Dinner” balanced visual appeal, festive flavor, and good wishes. The business class “Golden Lucky Bag” symbolized wealth and good fortune, with hot dishes including codfish lion’s head, family reunion platter, simmered beef ribs with kumquat, and colorful dumplings, carrying hopes for good luck, family reunion, prosperity, and happiness. The dessert was a cute horse-shaped milk jelly. Economy class served cabbage and pork dumplings, with cabbage symbolizing “wealth,” and the dumplings shaped like “ingots,” wishing passengers wealth and smooth sailing in the Year of the Horse. All passengers could also enjoy festive sweet gift boxes—little horse cookies and flower-shaped steamed buns. The flight also presented warm New Year small gifts to all passengers.