A recent item we published regarding a new name for Taiwan’s China Airlines provided a fair amount of reader interest (see comments at the end of the article).
Now according to France24.com, Covid-19 has brought fresh impetus to the proceedings.
Taiwan has more successfully tackled the pandemic than mainland China.
It suggests that Taiwan wants to solve the issue of confusion between the national airlines of the ‘Two Chinas.’
Air China is owned by mainland China whereas China Airlines is the national airline of Taiwan.
This has caused endless confusion over the decades, and even now with the internet, social media, etc, the confusion persists.
France24 reports that Taiwan’s parliament has this week raised the issue once again.
It quotes parliament speaker Yu Shyi-Kun saying, “The [transport] ministry should make CAL more identifiable internationally with Taiwanese images to protect Taiwan’s national interests as overseas it [Taiwan] is mistaken for a Chinese airline.”
In the past, as Business Traveller has reported, this would not have been a good idea as many countries did not grant landing rights to any Taiwanese airline for diplomatic reasons.
It was privately-owned Eva Air which changed matters almost 30 years ago when it adopted a neutral livery and played down its Taiwanese roots.
Later CAL adopted a neutral ‘plum blossom’ livery which enabled it to gain more traffic rights.
Taiwannews.com notes, wisely in my opinion, that “the proposal to the MOTC [transport ministry] should in the early stages focus on a redesign of the aircraft’s livery” so as not to cause problems with traffic rights were Taiwan or an image of Taiwan to appear.
As Business Traveller reported in June, China Airlines was planning to resume London flights this month.
China Airlines to offer weekly London Heathrow flights, resume hot meal service
