The passenger can take the high-speed train from Yichang to Wuhan, and then get on the plane at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport to any destination in China, in which five passengers per flight can enjoy their privilege of free bullet train ride.

　　The reporter interviewed the concerned department about the the targeted group interested in this service as well as the coordination about the plane-and-train service. Recently, round-trip tickets of “combined transport through plane-and-train” offered by Wuhan Branch of China Eastern Airline are available to passengers from Hankou Railway Station to Yichang East Railway Station and from Hankou Railway Station to Jingzhou Railway Station. It marks that any passenger of China Eastern Airline (CEA) can buy this type of tickets from any plane ticket agency and take the high-speed train free of charge connecting Hankou Railway Station and Yichang East Railway Station.

　　“Plane-and-train coordinated transport” will enable passengers to transfer “seamlessly”.

　　On February 9th (also the Eve of Chinese Lunar New Year), the service “Plane-and-train coordinated transport” provided by Wuhan Branch of CEA was officially launched. It is the first time for CEA to launch such a service. But due to insufficient publicity and return traffic peak not coming yet, it was not until 13th that the tickets were taken successively by passengers. This service brings great convenience to passengers ready to take off from Wuhan Tianhe International Airport, for they can get this variety of tickets without charge for taking the bullet train through one-stop booking (by air plus by train), which passenger can not only switch from railway to plane smoothly, but get tickets of this kind is cheaper than to buy them separately.

　　It was told by the officer in charge of the Yichang East Railway Station that according to the agreement between China Eastern Airline Co., Ltd and Wuhan Railway Station Bureau, from 2013 three railway stations including Yichang East Railway Station, Jingzhou Railway Station and Hankou Railway Station will offer the “plane-and-train coordinated transport” to passengers with “zero transfer” and “seamlessly” convenient travel service.

　　So far, related services linking with 15 train number of bullet trains per day have been provided by “plane-and-train coordinated transport” of CEA connecting Wuhan Tianhe International Airport with Railway Stations of Yichang East, Jingzhou and Hankou. Passengers can get these tickets through the booking hotline of CEA or any of its ticket offices around the globe. Besides, Passengers can also book tickets of the bullet train connecting Yichang East Railway Station and Hankou Railway Station and their airline tickets at the same time. Reserved tickets can be picked up at the service window of the designated coordination railway station with a valid ID card. What the passengers concern most about of course is that the price of “plane-and-train coordinated transport” is lower than that of purchasing them separately.

　　It is informed that the bus stop of Hankou Railway Station for “plane-and-train coordinated transport” is located at No. 295 bus stop, the site inside bus parking lot in front of the railway station square (at the right of China Post). The No. 1 Window of Hankou Railway Station and No. 26 Window of Yichang East Railway Station are the designated windows for taking tickets.

　　Considering the fact that the market is still in developing phase, there are only 5 seats per flight for the service of “plane-and-train coordinated transport” provided by Wuhan Branch of CEA. In other words, 500 train seats are free in the context of 100 or so flights every day from China Eastern Airline.

　　“Plane-and-train coordinated transport” shows its advantage of being “cost-effective”

　　To take the trip on February 28 from Yichang to Shanghai as an example, the reporter compares several different travel modes.

　　There currently exist two travel modes from Yichang to Shanghai. One is the one hour and twenty-five minutes direct flight from Yichang to Shanghai, of which the air ticket is given a 20 percent discount, RMB860 (not including fuel taxes and infrastructure fees), but only two flights each day and to take off in very late afternoon; the other to take D3008, the seven hours non-stop bullet train with first-class seat and RMB 419.5, which departs at 8:20 in the morning, and arrives in Shanghai Hongqiao International Railway Station at 15:44.

　　There are also two alternatives for passengers from Yiang to Shanghai but with the Wuhan Railway Station as a transfer stop:

　　The first is to purchase the tickets of “plane-and-train coordinated transport”. In view of no less than 90 minutes spending on things like traffic jam on the road, the plane’s landing and taking off and train’s departure and arrival, the passenger will arrive at the Hankou Railway Station after two hours’ journey of D5868 from Yichang East Railway Station to Hankou Railway Station which departs at 15:25, then take a free bus to Wuhan Tianhe International Airport, and ultimately embark on the scheduled flight of MU2515 of CEA which takes off at 19:45 and lands in Shanghai at 21:15, which lasts 6 hours with RMB 490 (including fuel taxes and infrastructure fees).

　　The second is to buy ticket of the bullet train from Yichang East Railway Station to Hankou Railway Station, the airport bus ticket from Hankou Railway Station to Wuhan Tianhe International Airport and the air ticket from Wuhan to Shanghai, of which all this total is as much as 600 Yuan with 52 percent discount air ticket RMB 390, plus fuel taxes and infrastructure fees RMB 120 and bullet train ticket RMB 60.

　　By comparison, we can conclude that the direct flight is most time-saving, but it also bears the disadvantage of being the most expensive and narrow choice; that the service of “plane-and-train coordinated transport”, with its acceptable total time and ticket price, has the advantage of being flexible travel mode and adds an alternative to Yichang citizens who want to go out. According to the statistics offered by the ticket office of the Shanghai Hongqian International Airport providing this service, the number of aviation passengers who also purchase their train tickets at the same time is larger than that of taking the train and meanwhile buying their air tickets, which is consistent with the service of “plane-and-train coordinated transport.

　　At present, there are almost 30 scheduled service of the bullet train between Yichang and Wuhan every morning, while flights provided by China Eastern Airline can reach 60 cities in China after taking off from Wuhan Tianhe International Airport. So we can see that “combined transport through plane-and-train” has more advantage over direct flight.