Travellers between Taipei and Sydney can look forward to China Airlines’ A350 this northern winter, with the Taiwanese carrier looking set to deploy the aircraft on the route starting December 1.

Business Traveller was alerted to the news by industry website routesonline.com and confirmed the changes on the airline’s schedule.

In addition to the A350 deployment on its current CI051/CI052 service – currently operated by an A330-300 – China Airlines will be deploying a second daily service on the route also starting December 1. These new CI055/CI056 flights will similarly be operated by the airline’s A350.

According to the airline’s schedule, the new CI055/CI056 flights will depart Taipei and Sydney in the morning and early afternoon, respectively, providing a daytime alternative to the current overnight CI051/CI052 routes.

China Airlines recently took delivery of its first A350 (of a total order of 14) back in September last year, which it configures in a 306-seat setup with 32 business (1-2-1), 31 premium economy (2-3-2) and 243 economy (3-3-3) class seats.

The aircraft has initially been deployed on the airline’s Taipei-Hong Kong route (a review of China Airlines’ A350 business class on the route is available here).

Unfortunately, while China Airlines will be increasing its operations between Taipei and Sydney, the airline looks set to cut two of its services between Sydney and New Zealand. From October 29, the airline’s Sydney-Christchurch service will be dropped, while from December 1 its Sydney-Auckland flights will cease.

china-airlines.com