Taipei Songshan Airport

Taiwan’s TransAsia Airways' growth Part I: Expanding role in Northeast Asia-Southeast Asia traffic

Part one of this report on the growth strategy for Taiwan's TransAsia Airways looks at how the carrier is seeking a greater role in Northeast Asia-Southeast Asia connecting traffic. To facilitate a greater ranger of destinations – the carrier's sole Southeast Asian point is Singapore – TransAsia plans to open service to Bangkok as well as destinations in Indonesia and Malaysia. In Northeast Asia, a Tokyo service may be added while frequency boosts will occur at existing Japanese destinations.

One Asian market TransAsia is not interested in is Taipei-Hong Kong, the world's most populous international route and which is currently experiencing over-capacity following the opening of cross-Strait flights between Taiwan and mainland China, a market TransAsia is present in. The carrier's new A330s, its first widebodies, will initially be used on blue-chip regional routes to raise awareness and also where demand justifies their presence.

China Airlines, Taiwan’s largest carrier, joins SkyTeam. Big impact in crucial North Asian markets

The SkyTeam alliance has taken another step forward in cementing its place in the fast-growing North Asian aviation market by adding China Airlines, Taiwan’s largest carrier and the world's seventh largest cargo carrier (by international scheduled FTKs - or eighth largest by total system FTKs), to the fold on 28-Sep-2011. China Airlines' entry comes just three months after China Eastern Airlines and Shanghai Airlines joined the grouping in Jun-2011. China Airlines will be the first Taiwanese carrier to join a global alliance, with rival EVA Air remaining unaligned.

China Airlines will become the 15th member of the SkyTeam airline alliance (see Appendix for full list of alliance groupings). By joining SkyTeam, the Taiwanese carrier will expand its international coverage nine-fold via codesharing to 926 destinations in 173 countries across 14,000 services from the current 1010 destinations in 29 countries.

TransAsia and UNI Air lead Taiwan's second tier airlines into new markets

Taiwan's airlines are gearing up for a boom in visitors from Mainland China. Taiwan’s Transportation and Communications Minister Mao Chikuo has urged Taiwanese carriers to purchase more aircraft before the number of Mainland tourists permitted to visit the island increases from 5 million presently to 10 million p/a over the next three to four years. While the demand will no doubt be captured predominantly by the nation's two major carriers, EVA Air and China Airlines, some of the nation's smaller carriers are also targeting rapid expansion in the months and years ahead on cross-Strait and near-international routes.

TSA screening row escalates as flight crew object to intrusive screening

Conflict is brewing in the US over new Transportation Security Administration (TSA) procedures, and airline crew – usually most vocal in support of effective security screening - are the strongest critics. Thanksgiving might see a boilover.