China Airlines boosts flights to Brisbane and Auckland

CHINA AIRLINES AIRBUS A350-941 B-18903 (MSN 066)

Just a few months on from the Taiwanese border reopening, China Airlines is shucking off its ‘slow and steady’ rebuild mantra, giving flights between Brisbane, Auckland and Taipei a significant boost in the early new year.

From the 1st of January the current three-time weekly Brisbane-Taipei connection will rise to five per week, with flights between Auckland and Brisbane receiving the same boost.

• CI54 departs Auckland at 8.50pm to reach Brisbane at 9.25pm, before setting out to Taipei at 11.10pm, arriving at 5.50am the following day

• CI53 departs Taipei at 11.55pm and lands in Brisbane at 10.45am the next day; the flight departs for Auckland at 12.55pm landing in Auckland at 7:10pm

The expansion is made possible under a $200 million joint Queensland Government and industry Attracting Aviation Investment Fund, which was created to boost the state’s tourism sector.

As previously reported, Sydney-Taipei and Melbourne-Taipei will also shift from three to four times a week in December.

China Airlines’ flights to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane all feature the modern Airbus A350, which sports an upmarket business class cabin of 32 seats offering direct aisle access.

All passengers will be able to tap into an inflight satellite Internet service, with prices ranging from US$12 for one hour to US$22 for a 24-hour plan which can be used over multiple flights (such as Sydney-Taipei-London).

The SkyTeam member plans to grow its international fleet from 2025 with the delivery of 16 Boeing 787-9 jets to replace the ageing Airbus A330s, with an option to add eight more and also convert orders to the larger 787-10 model.


On top of the increase flights Taiwan’s flag-carrier will also celebrate 20 years of flying to Brisbane next year.