A China Southern Airlines aircraft, painted with WorldSkills Competition motifs, made its maiden flight from Guangzhou, southern Guangdong Province, to Shanghai on Thursday to mark the 300-day countdown to the 46th WorldSkills Competition.

Passengers getting on board the CZ3537 flight at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport were surprised to see the plane awash in hues of blue, the tone color for the competition, and flight attendants welcoming them to start exploration of the competition with the airlines.

The competition, initiated in 1950 in Madrid, Spain, is known as the highest-level competition for skills around the world, and will take place on the Chinese mainland for the first time, with Shanghai as the host city.

The 46th edition of the competition will run from October 12 to 17 next year, along with other activities, such as the WorldSkills Conference, to promote the skills profile and boost exchanges among officials, industry insiders, educators and skilled people from all over the world.

President Xi Jinping has said that China is sincere to organize a "creative and influential" WorldSkills Competition.

Air transport is key to ensuring the event takes place and competitors participate. As a strategic partner of the Chinese delegation to the WorldSkills Competition, China Southern Airlines, together with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the WorldSkills Shanghai 2022 Executive Bureau, launched the special plane to promote the concept and influence of the event.

"China Southern Airlines is the airline with the largest number of transport aircraft, the largest route network and the largest annual passenger volume in China," Zhao Yongfeng, acting deputy director of the WorldSkills Shanghai 2022 Executive Bureau, said.

"It is also a cluster of skilled talents and plays a core role in the development of vocational skills in China's aviation industry. The plane with the WorldSkills Shanghai motifs carries dreams of skills. Its flying in the sky reflects China's firm resolution to hold a successful WorldSkills Competition."

The airlines provided a Boeing 777-300ER wide-body aircraft, which was then painted by its craftsmen and some Chinese gold prize winners at previous WorldSkills Competitions with overall spray painting technology in 16 days.

The total painting area amounted to 3,300 square meters, equal to 7 to 8 standard basketball courts.

The plane's surface and cabin walls have all been painted with elements of the 46th WorldSkills Competition, such as images of its mascots Neng Neng and Qiao Qiao; its slogan – Master Skills, Change the World; the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), the venue; and landmarks in Shanghai, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.

There are also images of Lu Ban locks, mortise and tenon joint structures, an invention by ancient Chinese carpenter Lu Ban, to highlight the spirit of craftsmanship.

According to the airlines, the design of the painting expresses the message that Chine welcomes skilled people from all over the world to show off their talent and shine with their artisan dreams at the WorldSkills Competition in Shanghai.

Inside the cabin, the rack and wallboard carry patterns of the mascots and words both in Chinese and English, giving a brief information about the competition.

Passengers on the flight were so excited that they all took photos inside and with the plane. They also received gifts specially designed for the maiden flight with elements of the competition.

The plane landed at the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, where it was welcomed with a water gate ceremony to celebrate the successful flight from the Chinese city that hosted the first national vocational skills competition last year to the first city on the Chinese mainland to host the WorldSkills Competition next year.

China Southern Airlines said the plane will serve more air routes to promote the event concept to other cities in China and around the world.

Zheng Jinglin, a silver medal winner in aircraft maintenance at China's first National Vocational Skills Competition that took place in Guangzhou in December last year, was one of the lucky ones to witness the launch of the WorldSkills-themed plane.

His outstanding performance won him an offer from China Southern Airlines immediately after the national competition. He joined the airlines' Guangzhou Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Co Ltd after graduating from the Guangzhou Communications Technician Institute this year.

The 20-year-old said he had an opportunity to visit China Southern Airlines and listen to experiences shared by its top engineer Liu Mingde, which had inspired him and helped him a lot in skills improvement.

Zheng is being trained with nine sophisticated engineers from the company to vie for a spot on the team to represent China at the 46th WorldSkills Competition.

"I wish to improve my vocational skills on the WorldSkills Competition platform and show the world the image of skilled young Chinese," he said. "I also wish to make constant breakthroughs in my career and make contributions to the development of China's civil aviation industry."