A China Eastern Airlines plane flies over Taipei City. (File photo: VCG)

For the first time in its history, China Eastern Airlines held an event to recruit flight attendants from Taiwan.

Following the three-day recruiting drive this week, 50 out of some 3,000 applicants from the island are scheduled to receive further physical checks before joining a training program in Shanghai. Those who make it through the training successfully are expected to take to the skies in 2020.

The addition of flight attendants from Taiwan is expected to help the Shanghai-based carrier to improve its customer service.

The airline operates 27 routes with 200 regular flights each week between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland, according to China News Agency. The airline has flown 13 million passengers across the Strait over the past 11 years.