China Airlines Airlines

  About China Airlines

China Airlines is the official flag carrier of the Republic of China. It is one of the two largest airlines in the country, along with EVE Air Corporations or Evergreen Airways. Another name for the Republic of China is Taiwan, which is more popular. The airline's headquarters is located at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport. It operates a whopping number of flights, about 1400 in a week, which also includes 91 flights that are reserved for cargo and freight transit. China Airlines enjoys a good domestic route and international route connectivity as it travels to about 1-02 cities located across Asia, Oceania, North America and Europe. The airline has a record of flying over 19 million passengers along with over 5700 tons of cargo in the year 2017. With this, the airline managed to receive a 33rd position in the worldwide record of the largest airline with respect to passenger revenue per kilometre. The airline's cargo services found the tenth spot in the world for freight revenue per kilometre. The airline is wholly owned by a Taiwan-based enterprise called China Airlines Group. It operates as China Airlines Cargo, which is a member of SkyTeam Cargo. The cargo airline operates a strong fleet of freighter aircraft and also manages the cargo capacity of its parent company, China Airlines.

Mandarin Airlines is a subsidiary of China Airlines which takes care of domestic route connectivity and is recognised as a low-cost carrier for the regional route. Meanwhile, Tigerair Taiwan, another low-cost carrier, came into existence following a consortium between China Airlines and Tigerair Holdings, a Singaporean airline group. China Airlines was formed in 1959 when its shares were completely under the control of the Republic of China government. It was established by a retired air force officer and the airline predominantly catered to charter flights, in its early years. Eventually, by the 1960s, China Airlines emerged as a passenger scheduled flight. The airline's first route was between Taipei and Hualin, making it the first domestic service. In the later years, as China Airlines was introduced to Caravelle and Boeing manufacturing aircraft, the airline expanded its reach to fly international with scheduled flights to South Vietnam, Japan and Hong Kong. The flag carrier of the Republic of China (China Airlines) has undergone several conflicts and political pressures by the Communist Party of China, over the use of China in their airline's name.

All through the 1990s, China Airlines received several criticisms regarding the lack of safety in their airline. Initially, the airline used to employ ex-ROC Air Force pilots. However, following the series of unsafe flight operations, China Airlines decided to change its approach towards hiring and only go for recruits who are civilian-trained and also have a proven track record to validate their resume. Additionally, the airline also started recruiting graduates to work as trainees in their pilot training programme. China Airlines also worked towards modifying its operational procedures and work more on fleet maintenance. All these measures helped upscale the airline's name as it's track record for safety saw a significant rise. The company eventually received recognition from the IATA Operational Safety Audit. In 2010, the airline made a decision to join the airline alliance, SkyTeam, as they signed an agreement to begin the process for the same. Officially, the airline became a full-fledged member of SkyTeam in 2011. This resulted in a change of the airline's logo as well as made the Taiwanese airline the first to join the airline alliance.

Fleet size of China Airlines

The current fleet size of China Airlines stands at 88 aircraft. The fleet comprises 23 Airbus A330-300s, 14 Airbus A350-900s, 19 Boeing 737-800s, four Boeing 747-400s and ten Boeing 777-300ER. Further, the airline has ordered for 25 more Airbus A321neo to join its fleet. Along with this, they also have a strong fleet with 18 Boeing 747-400F and are expecting six Boeing 777Fs. In the past, the airline enjoyed an illustrious fleet which consisted of various variants of Airbus and Boeing. Some of the amazing aircraft included Airbus A300B4-200, Airbus A320-200, Airbus A300-600R, Boeing 727, Boeing 737-400, Boeing 747-200, Boeing 747-200SF, Boeing 767-200, McDonnell Douglas MD-11 and Sud Aviation Caravelle. However, these flights have since retired. China Airlines is planning to introduce Airbus A321neos to take the place of Boeing 737-800 fleet, which is set to retire soon. Along with this, the airline also has an option to switch some of the A321neos to A350s.

Baggage Allowance

China Airlines also follows the global standards of baggage allowance wherein specific weight and dimensions need to be followed for checked baggage and hand baggage. According to their website, the airline allows a weight of up to 30 and 35 kg for economy class while the weights go up to 35 kg for premium economy class. Meanwhile, the business class passengers are allowed to carry 40 kg weighing baggage for check-in. It should be noted that these are the maximum weight that the airlines would allow. Depending on the cabin class and the ticket type, the number of baggage or rather the piece of bags for check-in will differ. Passengers need to make sure that they peruse through the airline's website to know more about the same. No matter what though, the total dimension of the baggage should not exceed 158 cm. This means the height, width and length of the baggage should collectively give 158 cm and not more than that. As for hand baggage, the dimension of the baggage should be within 56 cm x 36 cm x 23 cm. The weight of the cabin baggage cannot exceed 7 kg as accommodating the same could be challenging.

In-flight services

China Airlines is one of the biggest airlines prevalent in the Republic of China. With a dynamic fleet that boasts impeccable and brand new aircraft, the in-flight services have also been enhanced for better. The seats are superior with soft leather, and it reclines up to 180 degrees. There are provisions for in-flight meals, too that are delicious and sufficient. Plus, passengers can enjoy exquisite entertainment content on their system while relaxing with excess legroom.

Popular routes and top cities in China Airlines

China Airlines has one of the vast lists of destinations in its domestic routes as well as international routes. It has connectivity to about 118 airports that are sprawled across 115 cities prevalent in four diverse continents. The airline literally carries about 1,400 flights in a week. Out of all the international destinations that China Airlines connects with, its biggest and most important market in Japan. The airline has a massive demand in the Japan market for which the airline operates about 180 flights on a weekly basis. China Airlines has connections to about 14 Japanese destinations. Apart from Japan, its second-biggest market is in Taiwan. In fact, China Airlines has one of its largest hubs at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, which is the largest airport in the Republic of Taiwan. Along with these two big markets, the airline also has great operations in Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, Korea and the Indian market. Many flights are also connected to Canada by China Airlines.

Given below are some of the top cities for China Airlines. These include its cities from domestic routes as well as the famous international route destinations. Amsterdam, Auckland, Bangkok, Boston, Brisbane, Busan, Calgary, Changchun, Chengdu, Chicago, Chongqing, Colombo, Denpasar, Frankfurt, Hanoi, Hiroshima, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Honolulu, Houston, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, London, Los Angeles, Manila, Melbourne, Nagoya, New York City, Okinawa, Ontario Osaka, Rome, San Francisco, Sapporo, Seoul, Sydney, Taipei, Tokyo, Toyama, Vancouver, Vienna, Taichung, Guangzhou, Guam, Haikou, Hefei, Nanjing, Ningbo, Penang, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Shenyang, Weihai, Wuxi, Xiamen, Xi'an, Yancheng, Yangzhou and Zhengzhou.

Why travel by China Airlines?

China Airlines is one such airline which has managed to offer sub-par in-flight services as well as connectivity. Being such a large airline, China Airlines has worked hard towards enhancing the experience of its customers and passengers at all times. Be it their in-flight services or their airport staff, they have always delivered professionalism and efficiency.

Even before other Asian airlines could incorporate the idea of web check-ins, China Airlines did it. In their user-friendly interface where passengers can simply just book a China Airlines flight and even rake some discounts in the process. Further, the airline's website also offers a bunch of necessary information pertaining to the flight status, Air China's flight schedules, the in-flight service that can be availed, the baggage allowance policy of the airline and much more. Their tie-ups with domestic hotels and more have also added to the benefits of travelling by Air China.

While services are something that they have managed to ace, it is also the number of the domestic route and international route connectivity that attracts prospective passengers. They have mileage programme too that can help you earn and burn miles. Overall, travelling by China Airlines would be an experience, if anything. And it is one such experience that traveller should certainly try out.