THE GOVERNMENT OF TAIWAN APPROVES CHINA AIRLINES' NAME CHANGE ⋆ ✯ Flyhigh.News ✯

TAIPEI, TAIWAN – The Government of Taiwan has approved a name change for its national carrier China Airlines. The airline’s name is causing much confusion as the airline of Taiwan (officially the Republic of China), not of China (officially the People’s Republic of China).

The request for the Taiwanese national carrier to change its name after 61 years comes from many Taiwanese organizations and companies, which have called for the name change of China Airlines since February this year.

The main reason for the Taiwanese organizations and companies would be to restore consumer confidence after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in February by eliminating the connection with China.

The Department of Transportation is called on to change the name to something more recognizable as Taiwanese. It’s unknown at this time what will be the new name for China Airlines. However, it will cost a lot of money and work to change the airline’s name everywhere, the Minister of Transport recently said.

YouTube player — *A China Airlines A350’s Go Around during a storm in 2017 at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Video: Jerry Taha Aviation*

Taiwan

The island of Taiwan – officially the Republic of China – is a country in East Asia, southeast of China, southwest of Japan, and north of The Philippines. The main island of Taiwan has an area of 35,808 square kilometres (13,826 sq mi) with 23.7 inhabitants and Taipei as the island’s capital and largest metropolitan area. Other major cities in Taiwan are New Taipei, Kaohsiung, Taichung, Tainan and Taoyuan.

Taiwan is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, and is the most populous country and largest economy that isn’t a member of the United Nations (UN).

China Airlines

China Airlines (CAL) was founded on December 16, 1959 and is the national carrier of the Republic of China – commonly known as Taiwan. China Airlines is one of Taiwan’s two major airlines, along with EVA Air.

China Airlines is headquartered at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) and before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic the airline was operating over 1400 flights every week – including 91 cargo flights – to 102 destinations in Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania, carrying more than 19 million passengers and 5700 tons of cargo in 2017.

The airline was the 10th largest airline in the world in terms of passenger revenue per kilometer (RPK) and freight RPK, respectively.

China Airlines has a total number of 11,238 employees (as of June 30, 2020).