Taiwan’s flag carrier China Airlines has unveiled its second avian-themed A350 livery, featuring the endemic Taiwan blue magpie bird species found only on the island.
Named “Urocissa caerulea”, after the magpie’s scientific name, the liveried aircraft joins China Airlines’ “Syrmaticus Mikado” A350 livery, which features another endemic bird, the Mikado pheasant.
The new livery is debuting on the carrier’s long-haul Taipei-Vancouver route, which the new A350 began flying this month. This also means all of China Airlines North America services, including to Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco as well as Vancouver, are now operated by either the A350 or its new B777.
It’s worth noting that the new “Urocissa caerulea” liveried A350 is the 100th A350 delivered by Airbus, which China Airlines received last week. In 2018, the carrier expects to have received all 14 of the A350s it’s had on order. The airline took delivery of its first A350 in September last year.
China Airlines has stated that it plans to deploy these on numerous long-haul routes to the US, Europe and Australia in the coming months, starting with its Taipei-Honolulu route on October 29. This is due to be followed by its new London route, which it announced last month, as well as on its double daily service to Sydney, both from December 1.
Business Traveller recently reviewed China Airlines’ business class offering on board the A350 on its Taipei-Hong Kong route.
[embed]https://www.businesstraveller.com/tried-and-tested/flight-review-china-airlines-a350-900-business-class/[/embed]The rolling out of the A350 also coincides with China Airlines’ retirement of its predecessor, the A340, which it put out to pasture in June.
