China Airlines Boosts Taipei – Sydney Schedule

Taiwanese carrier China Airlines is to introduce a fifth weekly rotation between Taipei and Sydney, although it is currently unclear when exactly the additional flight will be introduced. The new Monday service from the Taiwanese capital is loaded in the GDS from the beginning of the Northern Winter schedules on October 30 but bookings are only being accepted after November 28.

China Airlines is the sole operator on the Taipei Taoyuan – Sydney route and carried an estimated 50,000 O&D passengers in the past year, 64 per cent of the total 77,000 passenger market. There is a large slippage via Hong Kong and the flights of Cathay Pacific Airways and Qantas Airways and China Airlines will hope the additional weekly rotation will go some way to boosting its share.

The airline uses an Airbus A330-300 on its flights to Sydney, a type it also uses on its other route to Australia, a three times weekly connection to Brisbane. It competes directly with fellow Taiwanese carrier EVA Air on this route, holding a 45 per cent share of the estimated 68,000 O&D passengers that travelled on the route.

In the past year more than 230,000 O&D passengers travelled between Taiwan and Australia, a market that has declined by 3.9 per cent over the last 12 months, although yields have strengthened during the same period with average fares rising 1.1 per cent to $950 each way. China Airlines is the dominant carrier between the two countries with a 40.3 per cent share of the traffic but its share has slipped by 1.4 per cent in the past year, mainly due to the growth of Cathay Pacific Airways which has increased its market share by 2.8 per cent to 23.4 per cent.

Schedule:

CI051 TPE2355 – 1215+1SYD 333 x46
CI052 SYD2200 – 0415+1TPE 333 x57