From March 25 Dutch national airline KLM will fly daily non-stop between Europe and Taiwan, providing first rate connections for passengers starting and ending their journeys in London.
Right now KLM’s Taipei flights stop at Bangkok en route. So this new and faster service with a B777-200ER will go some way to compensate passengers for CAL (China Airlines) withdrawal of twice weekly non-stop flights from the UK (see online news January 11).
Flight KL1022 departs London Heathrow at 1710 to arrive into Amsterdam at 1930 before KL0807 leaves for Taipei at 2040. Arrival into Taipei is at 1445 the following day.
Return service KL0808 departs Taipei at 2310 to reach Amsterdam the following morning at 0610. Connecting flight KL1001 leaves Amsterdam at 0715 to arrive into Heathrow at 0740.
Should Heathrow not be convenient then there are connections available to and from London City on many days of the week.
KLM has operated a long-standing service to Taipei right back from the time when it was politically incorrect for a European airline to fly into Taiwan. And Amsterdam has always remained the main aviation gateway for the “other China.”
But not everything in the garden is lovely. Passengers flying KLM between Europe and the Philippines will lose out because their existing non-stop flight (KLM is the only airline operating non-stop to Manila from Europe) will now route via Taipei which in turn means an extended journey time.
For more information go to klm.com.
Report by Alex McWhirter
