Taipei, Dec.18, 2012 (CENS)--China Airlines’ (CAL) chairman C.J. Chang has confirmed that the carrier will partner with SkyTeam Cargo’s (SKTC) members including China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, and Xiamen Air in an alliance in Greater China, benefiting passengers on cross-strait, inter-airline booking as well as online booking on mutual websites.
CAL joined the SkyTeam in 2010 to become Taiwan’s first airline to participate in the international airline alliance. After more than one year of negotiation, the carrier has agreed with the three mentioned airlines to form the alliance, which is expected to improve their competiveness in Greater China. Currently, the four carriers fly to 34 destinations in China, with 267 weekly flights.
SkyTeam recently announced global destinations totaling 1,000, with 19 members adding 17% more routes from two years ago. SkyTeam has witnessed remarkable expansion in 2012, with new members including Saudi Airlines, Middle East Airlines-Air Liban, Argentine Airlines, and Xiamen Air. Presently, SkyTeam has the world’s second largest route network, and will be the biggest airline alliance in Greater China with the new participants. (by Andrew Wang)