Mainland China and Taiwan: aeropolitics impacts airlines at all levels

Politically necessitated cosmetic changes are cheaper but louder for airlines in 2018 than a few decades ago. Mainland China's wide push for companies to distance themselves from recognising Taiwanese independence impacted the aviation sector as airlines this year were instructed for their websites and other materials not to categorise "Taiwan" as a separate country, but rather to list Taiwanese destinations as being in "China".

This was a reminder of the early 1990s - before widespread internet usage and landmark PRC-Taiwan accords - when China prohibited airlines from serving both China and Taiwan.

Airlines then created "Asia" subsidiaries to circumvent the ban: British Airways flew to China, but British Asia Airways flew to Taiwan, while Qantas established Australia Asia Airlines. That avoided airlines making political statements about territorial claims.

These incidents are highly visible and come with PR implications. Yet there are China-Taiwan matters less visible but with far greater impacts for other airlines, markets, tourism and aircraft sales - which this report explores.