Airlines
CAL to expand presence in Europe and prepares for its first A350 delivery
September 23rd 2016
Taiwan’s China Airlines (CAL) this week confirmed it will receive its first A350-900 from Airbus on September 30. CAL has 14 A350s on firm order, with options on another six. Read More » It hoped to receive four XWBs this year, six next year and four more in 2018. The A350s will replace the SkyTeam member’s four remaining A340-300s and eight B747-400s.
Initially, the 306-seat aircraft with 32 business, 31 premium economy and 243 economy class seats will fly between Taipei and Hong Kong before moving onto Taipei to Amsterdam, Vienna and Rome by year end.
Earlier this month, CAL said it also planned to resume direct flights to London by early next year, at the latest, as part of its European expansion using the A350. It has 19 flights a week between its hub at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Rome and Vienna.
CAL launched a non-stop A340-300 service to London’s Heathrow in March 2010, but suspended flights in 2012 citing losses amid record high oil prices. But now that British pound is lower as well as the Euro, Taiwanese travellers are returning to Europe.
CAL’s international rival, EVA Airways, on Monday said it had felt a limited impact from fewer Mainland tourist arrivals this year. The carrier’s president, Derek Chen, said cross strait travel accounted for approximately 11% of EVA’s total revenues, and added the carrier had adjusted its schedule to the reduced demand by replacing twin-aisle aircraft with single-aisles.
EVA has cancelled three cross strait routes: Taichung-Hangzhou, Taichung-Nanjing and Kaohsiung-Qingdao. Mainland air passenger arrivals in Taiwan were down 15% year-on-year in July, following approximately 12% declines in May and June.
EVA’s core business centres around trans-Pacific flights, which connect from Taiwan to Vancouver, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Toronto and New York. EVA will add a sixth B777-300ER frequency each week to Houston from October 3, after a successful run on the route since it was launched in June.
The Star Alliance member has hinted it would open a nonstop route to Miami, although this is not expected to happen until it begins to accept its 18-on-order B787-10s, plus six options, from late 2017.
