Alibaba's Qwen app partners with China Eastern Airlines for flight booking

Alibaba has partnered with China Eastern Airlines, marking the first external integration for its Qwen AI app. Users can now manage the full flight booking process—search, purchase, seat selection, and check-in—through a natural-language chat interface. The app also acts as a proactive assistant, anticipating needs and suggesting options. Alibaba plans to expand into airline loyalty and travel services, adding partners inside and outside its ecosystem. Wu Jia, president of Qwen app, stated that this integration extends agentic capabilities to external partners. The deal supports Alibaba's AI strategy, which includes a 380 billion yuan ($55.6 billion) investment over three years, with over 120 billion yuan already spent in the four quarters through September.