Happy Birthday China Airlines

CHINA AIRLINES B747-409 B-18205 (CN 28712)

IATA ICAO Callsign CI CAL DYNASTY

China Airlines was established on the 16th December 1959 with a fleet of two PBY Amphibian aircraft. (The Consolidated PBY Catalina aircraft was produced in the 1930s and 1940s). Its shares were completely held by the Republic of China government.  China Airlines was founded by a retired air force officer and initially concentrated on charter flights only. During the 1960s, China Airlines was able to establish its first scheduled routes. In October 1962, a flight from Taipei to Hualien became the airline's first domestic service. Later, with the introduction of the Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle and Boeing 727-100s, the airline introduced international flights to South Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Japan. With the airlines' first two Boeing 707 aircraft, trans-Pacific flights to San Francisco via Tokyo were initiated on the 2nd February 1970. The expansion of the company's 707 fleet also permitted more services in Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, and North America (via Japan and Hawaii). China Airlines is the state-owned national carrier of the Republic of China (commonly known as Taiwan), and is one of its two major airlines along with EVA Air. It is headquartered in Taipei Taoyuan International Airport and before Covid operated over 1,400 flights weekly to 159 destinations in 29 countries/districts, like Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania. Carrying over 19 million passengers and 5700 tons of cargo in 2019, the carrier was the 33rd largest airline in the world in terms of revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) and 10th largest in terms of freight revenue ton kilometers.

CHINA AIRLINES B747-409 B-18206 (CN 29030)

China Airlines is owned by Taiwan-based China Airlines Group and operates China Airlines Cargo, a member of SkyTeam Cargo, which operates a fleet of freighter aircraft and manages its parent airline's cargo-hold capacity. Its sister airlines include Mandarin Airlines, which operates flights to domestic and low-demand regional destinations, and Tigerair Taiwan, which is a low-cost carrier established by China Airlines and Singaporean airline group Tigerair Holdings but is now wholly owned by China Airlines Group.

CHINA AIRLINES A330-302 B-18358 (CN 1346)

Prior to introducing their current plum blossom livery, the livery of China Airlines featured the flag of Republic of China (Taiwan) on the tail due to commercial and political reasons. On the 7th October 1995, partly as a way to avoid the international controversy, China Airlines unveiled its "Plum Blossom" logo, replacing the national flag and the aircraft livery from the red-white-blue national colours on the fuselage of its aircraft. The plum blossom (Prunus mume - commonly known as Chinese plum) is Taiwan's National Flower.

As of November 2020, the China Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:

China Airlines fleet

Aircraft	In service	Orders	Passengers
			C	W	S	Y	Total
Airbus A321neo	—	25	TBA
Airbus A330-300	23	—	36	—	—	277	313
			30			277	307
Airbus A350-900	14	—	32	31	36	207	306
Boeing 737-800	19	—	8	—	—	150	158
						153	161
Boeing 747-400	3	—	12	49	—	314	375
Boeing 777-300ER	10	—	40	62	30	226	358
China Airlines Cargo fleet
Boeing 747-400F	18	—	Cargo
Boeing 777F	1	5	Cargo
Total	88	30

CHINA AIRLINES A350-941 B-18901 (CN 049)

The company slogan is Journey with a caring smile.

EMPLOYEES (As of 30 NOV, 2020)
Total number of employees: 11,403
Employees in Taiwan: 9,874
Employees stationed overseas: 1,529

CHINA AIRLINES A330-302 B-18359 (CN 1367)

CHINA AIRLINES A350-941 B-18918 (CN 239)

CHINA AIRLINES A330-302 B-18361 (CN 1539)