China Airlines To Start Routes to London

It now seems that China Airlines, not to be confused with Air China, will now operate a three times a week nonstop service between London and Taipei. This flight will be operated by an A340-300 configured for 30 business and 246 economy class seats.

Flight CI70 will be departing Heathrow at 21:15 every Tuesday and Sunday to arrive in Taipei the next day at 19:05. Timings on Thursday will be a little different. They will leave at 21:05 and arrive at 19:05. Inbound daytime flights will depart Taipei every Tuesday and Sunday at 09:45 to land into Heathrow at 17:05. Timing on Thursday are, of course, ten minutes earlier.

In the past, European countries have been very wary of granting traffic rights to China Airlines, who is the flag carrier of Taiwan, for fear of upsetting the government of mainland China. This is because Beijing considers Taiwan a renegade province. This means that UK travelers that wished to fly with China Airlines to Taipei had to board their flights in Amsterdam, as Holland was one of the few countries that was granted landing rights.

Eva Air, which is China Airlines’ privately owned rival, cleverly circumvented the political issue. It was able to gain international acceptance more quickly, because it removed all evidence of Taiwan from its corporate identity and livery. As a result, Eva Air has been serving London since the early 1990′s.

Some years later, China Airlines finally followed suit. It painted its planes in a neutral plum blossom. This enabled China Airlines to secure landing rights. Now at London Heathrow, China Airlines will be up against Eva Air, which operates larger three class planes.