China Airlines links London and Taipei

China Airlines' lavish cocktail reception to mark its first landing into London attracted a large crowd of media on Monday night. As well as being the only carrier to connect the capital with Taipei non-stop, China Airlines is actively working with the Taiwanese UK-based tourism board to attract more visitors there. Our Hub reporter was at the event.

China Airlines' new service from Taipei Taoyuan to London Heathrow is now in full swing, with the first of three-times weekly non-stops arriving into the capital on Sunday.

The celebratory mood continued on Tuesday at the summit of London's riverside landmark, 'Altitude 360', where the airline's president, HH Sun, along with the first set of crew and invited guests raised a glass to the carrier's fifth European destination from Taipei.

The airline also serves Amsterdam (via Bangkok), Rome (via Delhi), Vienna and Frankfurt, bringing the total schedule to 21 flights per week between Taiwan and Europe.

So why serve London now? The new reciprocal visa-waiver arrangements between the UK and Taiwan agreed earlier this month (extending visa-free stays from 30 to 90 days for UK and Taiwanese travellers) has been important to the route opening, the airline's president, Mr Sun told our Hub reporter.

"The timing is very helpful for us - it has always been our dream to fly to London. For now we are focused on attracting students and leisure traffic, but business traffic is also important. And we are going to see how the schedule evolves, as our flights arrive in Taipei late evening and depart for the UK early. We can tweak this in future and add capacity if necessary."

There is also a big push to attract tourists to Taiwan, and the Taiwanese tourism board in the UK has been actively working with the carrier to promote the new non-stop service, said Derek Cridland, senior vice president, engineering and maintenance. "But equally important, we will be ready for the London Olympics in 2012," he said.

Flights depart on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays using Airbus A340-300 aircraft, with 30 premium business class seats and 246 in economy.

Passengers can also connect to destinations in the South East and North East Asia, Indonesia, Australia and mainland China.