ROUTES ASIA: China Airlines Reduces Taipei - London Schedules

Taiwanese operator China Airlines is set to reduce capacity on its Taipei Taoyuan – London Heathrow route from April. According to official schedule data, the company’s Tuesday flight will be suspended from April 6, through to the end of the Northern Winter schedules. It will still serve the route twice weekly on Thursdays and Sundays. The carrier is the only operator to provide a non-stop flight on the route with its rival EVA Air offering a one-stop link via Bangkok. China Airlines launched the route this time last year using a 276-seat Airbus A340-300 with 30 Business Class and 246 Economy seats, adding to its previous European connections to Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Rome and Vienna.

Source: IATA BSP (February 2010 – January 2011)

As the table above shows, China Airlines carried over 24,000 O&D passengers on this route in the year ending January 2011, approximately a 21 per cent share of the total traffic between the UK and Taiwan. It has already overtaken EVA Air as the market leader on the London Heathrow – Taipei Taoyuan after operating the route for just one year, clearly showing a consumer preference for a non-stop link versus a one-stop strategy.

Source: Flightbase (April 14-20, 2011) and IATA BSP (February 2010 – January 2011)

China Airlines carried more than 80,000 passengers between Taiwan and Europe during the same period, with the table above highlighting its traffic flows on each of its routes, ranked by market share. This summer its flights to Frankfurt, London and Vienna operate directly, but links to Amsterdam and Rome fly via Bangkok and New Delhi, respectively.