Alex McWhirter looks at how new services can benefit business travellers
London to Taipei
Taiwan’s China Airlines (CAL), not to be confused with Air China, the national airline of the PRC (People’s Republic of China), finally arrived in London on March 28.
Readers may wonder why it has taken so long for the Taiwanese airline to arrive on these shores. It is all down to politics. Air services to Taipei, Taiwan’s capital, have long been bedevilled by the politics of the “two Chinas”, and that is why there are so few flights out of Europe to that destination compared with other areas of the Far East.
The Beijing authorities view the island of Taiwan as a renegade province, so European countries have been reluctant to grant landing rights for fear of upsetting the mainland government. Privately owned Taiwanese carrier Eva Air cleverly circumvented the political issue in the 1990s by removing all evidence of its home country from its livery and corporate identity. This allowed it to launch services to Europe.
It was only when China Airlines followed suit at a later date that it was allowed to add extra destinations to its relatively small European network. CAL’s former livery was based around the colours of the Taiwanese flag, but it repainted its fleet with a neutral “plum blossom” colour scheme.
No European carrier, with the sole exception of the Netherlands’ KLM, operates to Taipei.
What’s on offer?
CAL will be flying three times a week – Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays – with A340-300 aircraft. Its non-stop flight takes 14 hours eastbound, almost two and a half hours faster than Eva Air, which stops in Bangkok.
China Airlines’ Airbus has 30 angled lie-flat seats in business class (configured 2-2-2) with 60 inches of legroom. The 246 economy passengers make do with 32 inches of legroom in seats disposed 2-4-2.
Flight CI069 departs Taipei at 0935 and arrives into London Heathrow at 1655 (1705 on Tuesday and Sunday). The return service CI070 departs at 2115 and lands back in Taipei the following day at 1815 (on Thursdays it departs at 2205 and arrives at 1905).
Eva Air flies daily one-stop with a three-class B777-300ER, the other class being premium economy. The plane is fitted with 42 angled lie-flat seats in business class configured 2-2-2 with 61 inches of legroom, 63 seats in premium economy (2-4-2) with 38 inches of legroom, and 211 economy seats (3-3-3) with 33 inches.
Its flight BR067 departs Taipei at 0900 and reaches Heathrow at 1915 (on Mondays it departs at 0710, arriving at 1730). The return BR068 departs London at 2135 and lands back into Taipei at 2100 the next day.
The competition
The main rivals to the Taiwanese carriers are Cathay Pacific of Hong Kong and KLM. Although both airlines fly indirect, they rather unusually charge more for tickets.
Why is this? First, because unlike the Taiwanese airlines, both Cathay Pacific and KLM are members of global alliances. Cathay is linked with Oneworld, while KLM is with Skyteam, so passengers can earn frequent flyer programme mileage points and qualify for various perks. (Readers have asked me why no Taiwanese airline is an alliance member. The reason, as you can probably guess, is down to politics.)
Second, Cathay Pacific and KLM both offer splendid connections. With Cathay you have a choice of departure times from both Heathrow and Taipei to connect with its several daily services linking London with Hong Kong. (Taipei is close to Hong Kong, with flying times on this route similar to an Anglo-Scottish service.)
KLM scores on account of its myriad connections between London, the regions and its Amsterdam hub. You can choose to depart from Aberdeen in the north or Bristol in the south, or Cardiff in the west and Norwich in the east. From London you have a choice of Heathrow or City airports.
What you pay
Return online fares for travel in May started from:
- China Airlines: £1,664 business, £524 economy
- Eva Air: £1,649 business, £869 premium economy, £564 economy
- KLM: £2,243 business, £678 economy
- Cathay Pacific: £5,008 first class, £2,762 business, £752 economy.
Lower prices may be available through travel agents. Visit china-airlines.com, klm.com, evaair.com and cathaypacific.com for more information.
