All pilots from ethnic groups serving the country's airlines, totaling 225, were working hard to ensure normal and safe operation of flights during the ongoing Beijing Olympic Games.

Li Jian, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) deputy director, said on Wednesday in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

In addition to these 225 ethnic pilots, there are also 37 ethnic students studying in piloting schools. The pilots and would-be pilots come from 16 ethnic groups including Uygur, Tibet, Mongol, Bai, Hui, Manchu, Miao, Qiang, Yi, Zhuang, Korean, Dongxiang, Naxi, Tujia, Xibo, and Gelao.

Ethnic pilots were working diligently, precisely and seriously, said Li.

Chinese airlines have employed three Uygur pilots. Two of them, Aikebaier Maimaiti and Ailiyiming Niyazi, served as Boeing 757 captains for the Xinjiang branch of China Southern Airlines, while the third, Dulihong, worked with the Xinjiang General-use Airlines.

Aikebaier Maimaiti recently completed a two-way international flight between Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, and Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, on Tuesday morning. He told Xinhua in a phone interview, "Since August 1, I have flown 36.05 hours on routes between Urumqi and Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xi'an."

On Wednesday morning, he will fly between Urumqi and Islamabad, Pakistan.

"Every of us are working hard for normal and safe flight during the Olympic period," said Aikebaier, "I will keep clear-headed and try my efforts and contribute to ensure the Olympics with higher standards and stricter requirements."

Ailiyiming Niyazi told Xinhua he had flown safely for a total of 17,542 hours. Since Aug. 1, he had worked on routes between Urumqi and Hotan, Xiamen, Shenzhen, Zhengzhou and Changsha. "I want to fly every flight safely until his retirement at 60," he said, "The Beijing Olympics has made me highly excited."

In Air China, there were a number of ethnic pilots, according to Cai Jianjiang, president of China's flag-carrier airlines.

Xinlitu, a Mongol captain, and his colleagues successfully completed the task of the Olympic Torch Relay. Qi Lei, another Mongol pilot, participated in both of the recent earthquake-relief operation and the current Olympics-related flights.

(Xinhua News Agency August 21, 2008)