China Airlines (CAL) and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM), both SkyTeam members, will expand their codeshare partnership with five routes from July 31 onwards.
CAL will place its code on two routes operated by KLM from Amsterdam to Manchester and Taipei Taoyuan, while KLM’s code will appear on three China Airlines flights from Taoyuan to Fukuoka and Okinawa, as well as from Taoyuan to Amsterdam via Bangkok. The additions follow the existing codeshare arrangement between the two carriers, on the Amsterdam-London Heathrow route with CAL’s code on KLM flights (see story here), and KLM’s code on CAL flights on the Singapore-Kaohsiung route.
According to CAL's press centre, the carrier regards Amsterdam as an important transit hub in Europe, while KLM treat Taipei as its hub in Asia. In 2009, the London government suggested that CAL fly to Manchester, however, due to a lack of suitable planes for the operation, CAL can only reach the destination through the upcoming codeshare service with KLM, said a CAL official.
The Taoyuan-Fukuoka and Taoyuan-Okinawa routes will attract an equal mix of group travellers and individual travellers, while the Taoyuan-Bangkok-Amsterdam route will be about 20 per cent group travellers and 80 per cent individual travellers, an official from the CAL pressroom added.
CAL became the first Taiwanese SkyTeam member in September last year (see story here). With ambitious plans to expand its global network, the carrier has made codeshare arrangements with some of the alliance’s other carriers, including Garuda Indonesia (see story here).
For more information, visit www.china-airlines.com or www.klm.com.
Michelle Fong
