China Airlines will add its latest Airbus A350 to Sydney from December 1 2017 while also going double daily with flights on the Sydney-Taipei route.
Overnight updates to the airline's booking system show both the regular flight CI51/CI52 (which currently runs on an Airbus A330) and the new CI55/CI56 service will both see the advanced Airbus A350, which sports an upmarket business class based on the same design as that of Virgin Australia and Qatar Airways, among others.
The 32 seats each offer direct aisle access and a side-table for spreading our your inflight stuff...
... and convert into a 78 inch (1.9 metre) fully-flat bed, with an 18 inch video screen to keep you entertained during the flight.
Behind the business class cabin is the Sky Bistro bar with self-serve drinks and snacks.
Further back are 31 premium economy seats arranged in rows of 2-3-2...
... which at 20 inches wide and with a 39 inch pitch add two inches in width and seven inches of pitch compared to the A350's 243 standard 3-3-3 economy seats.
All passengers will be able to tap into an inflight satellite Internet service.
The new China Airlines flight CI56 leaves Sydney at 1.30pm to reach Taipei at 7.50pm; the CI55 return leg is wheels-up from Taipei at 8.10am and arrives into Sydney at 8.25pm.
The SkyTeam member will also increase its Taipei-Brisbane-Auckland flights to a daily service, up from the current four flights a week, from December 1.
Sydney-Auckland flights cancelled
However, there's bad news for travellers who relied on China Airlines for a trans-Tasman hop across the pond: schedule updates indicate that China Airlines is pulling the plug on its Sydney-Auckland flights as of December 1.
These Auckland flights ran an an add-on leg from the Taipei-Sydney service and could be booked on their own as a single leg between Australia and New Zealand.
A spokesperson for China Airlines confirmed these changes to Australian Business Traveller, along with cancellation of similar Sydney–Christchurch flights from October 29, 2017, saying they reflected "changed business strategies for this winter schedule in 2017."
Of the move to double daily Airbus A350 flights between Taipei and Sydney, the airline "believes this strategy will increase more passengers from Europe or other countries to take China Airlines flights for flight connecting arrangement in Taiwan."
David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
Thai Airways International - Royal Orchid Plus
16 May 2011
Total posts 117
TPE-BNE-AKL still on but has increased to daily from 1 Dec 17. Hopefully the A350 is soon after that!
14 Dec 2015
Total posts 18
The premium economy looks good
31 Mar 2016
Total posts 644
@Viscount:
Cathay Pacific - The Marco Polo Club
01 Jun 2016
Total posts 14
So... they currently have 4 flights a week and are increasing it to 14? That's quite a bold move...
31 Mar 2016
Total posts 644
@boeingmannn:
Cathay Pacific - The Marco Polo Club
01 Jun 2016
Total posts 14
I was talking only about Sydney. I searched on Google and CI51 currently operates only 4 times weekly (I checked on Flightradar24 as well); do they usually increase it to daily during the Southern Summer?
30 Oct 2012
Total posts 24
Kudos to them for trying, and reminds me of when CZ went from a handful of flights to double daily on SYD-CAN.
06 May 2013
Total posts 11
Any news on their MEL-CHC leg being cancelled?
10 Aug 2015
Total posts 130
Is it seasonal or year round?
31 Mar 2016
Total posts 644
@afloskar:
10 Aug 2015
Total posts 130
@FLX1
31 Mar 2016
Total posts 644
@afloskar:
China Airlines - Dynasty Flyer
22 Sep 2012
Total posts 78
I have some close contacts in Taiwan who are in the know.
Firstly yes the TPE-BNE-AKL is still valid. CI still intends to service AKL and CHC as there is a decent market for passengers wanting to fly to Taiwan.
The A350 is coming to the TPE-BNE-AKL route but seems to have been delayed until early 2018 when more frames are delivered. CI realises the A330 is no longer sufficient when the competition is offering far superior products.
TPE-MEL-CHC , the MEL-CHC is seasonal but they do plan to keep developing the route over the next few years to support eventually a weekly flight to MEL and maybe a tag on flight to CHC all year. This route may also eventually transfer to the A350 either in 2018 or when the 6 options are ordered and delivered.
Now for the SYD fliers! I am very jealous firstly (I only fly HKG-TPE-BNE).
But the best news is the PE cabin will be sold as economy! If you have a Dynasty elite membership (Gold, Emerald, Paragon) you will be able to select these seats. If you have Skyteam elite plus card you should be able to get the seat if available upon checking and maybe over the phone to CI office.They may or may not allow a small number of seats to be selected by anyone booking the flight online without any of the above mentioned.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
06 Nov 2014
Total posts 368
I am a bit surprised that they opt the A350 to SYD first rather than BNE consider that we have a larger Taiwanese population here. CI is the only airline servicing SYD-TPE so they have the monopoly, compare to BNE where BR also servicing the route. By coming to BNE first they will have the advantage of offering a more superior product than BR (who still use outdated A330 angled lie flat at 2-2-2) and hopefully secure more of the Taiwanese market here, and potentially offer the best trans-tasman J product.
31 Mar 2016
Total posts 644
@Michael Kao:
China Airlines - Dynasty Flyer
12 May 2017
Total posts 7
One of the reasons that Sydney is the first to double the frequency is because that starting from December 2017, new route from Taipei to London Gatwick (direct) will be served by CI which means Australians and Europeans will have more options and of course compared to many airlines, CI has very competitive price.
31 Mar 2016
Total posts 644
2tris:
China Airlines - Dynasty Flyer
22 Sep 2012
Total posts 78
Actually they do. He has always seemed to know before hand.. BNE is highly competitive compared to SYD.. Eva air is just now putting on a fight for BNE route against CI. Offering the same cabin quality is not enough for CI. Eva has the advantage by having a 5 star skytrax rating and a better safety history which means a bit to some people. That is why. Plus TPE-ALK is not on their radar. Its not just the plane type but also the fact that CI lacks viable frames to do the flight.
AKL does not have have to be a direct flight because any other airline will require a 1 stop routing. AKL-BNE-TPE on a single flight number will always have the advantage time wise than say an AKL-HKG-TPE (probably the only other option close timing wise) routing.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
06 Nov 2014
Total posts 368
"BNE is highly competitive compared to SYD.. Eva air is just now putting on a fight for BNE route against CI. Offering the same cabin quality is not enough for CI."
That was exactly my point. It is highly competitive yet they are offering the same cabin quality to BR on their BNE route. If BR brings in a 77W before CI, then they've lost the mark!
China Airlines - Dynasty Flyer
22 Sep 2012
Total posts 78
China Airlines - Dynasty Flyer
22 Sep 2012
Total posts 78
31 Mar 2016
Total posts 644
31 Mar 2016
Total posts 644
@tris:
China Airlines - Dynasty Flyer
22 Sep 2012
Total posts 78
Its not difficult to understand what I am saying. CI is the dominant player so they have more market share. BR has not been focused on this until recently. If all is equal then BR will gradually take that market share also they have overall better history.
Yes I know they are getting the B787. Whether it is a B777 or B787 makes no difference only that it is coming and it will be fully flat with better IFE. So yes CI does need to jump this. Also They dont need to wait 18months. There are many being delivered this year and they will have a total of 13 frames by April 2018 (under 12 months) so they will have the option of putting the A350 on the BNE route.
15 Dec 2015
Total posts 21
"CI still intends to service AKL and CHC"
China Airlines - Dynasty Flyer
22 Sep 2012
Total posts 78
CI is not from mainland China (PRC). Its from Taiwan (ROC). AKL does not have a big Taiwanese community as BNE plus AKL is definitely not as big as SYD population wise or have anywhere as much business in comparison.
Mainland Chinese are limited in transferring through Taiwan without a visa issued by PRC. The only option for Mainland Chinese is to fly out of HKG (So why not just go CX then) and some cities far inland (Chongqing is one of the few) where currently CI does not have the rights to fly there to Taipei. BR was able to get a couple of flights per week though.
Lets just say anything between Taiwan and Mainland China is complicated. So CI cannot benefit from the Chinese community much currently.
So back to the original question. If the mainland Chinese airlines only send their 787's/777's weekly but have the huge market from China to fill up their planes (Over 1 billion people) then Taiwan being just 24 million will really struggle with loads putting an A350 direct to AKL.
31 Mar 2016
Total posts 644
@tris06:
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
06 Nov 2014
Total posts 368
Also surprisingly, there is a large Taiwanese population here in BNE that came through AKL! These are the people that originally migrated to NZ in the 90's, got the NZ citizenship, got their university diploma but can't get a job in NZ! So many of them migrated to Australia and BNE seem to be their place of choice (I guess house in SYD/MEL is too high?). My bro in law is one of those. There are many other of my friends are those. They still have family and friends back in AKL so they go back to NZ as often as to Taiwan.
31 Mar 2016
Total posts 644
@crazybenjamin:
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
21 Mar 2017
Total posts 37
I used their BNE AKL service quite a few times. Can often get Y return for under $400NZD incl 30KG. Trump's even NZ/VA codeshare on their most basic fares. Be very very sad to see it go!
10 Aug 2015
Total posts 130
It's not going...
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
10 Apr 2012
Total posts 310
Do QF Platinum flyers get any benefits or recognition flying CI to Taiwan as a Qantas CodeShare service?
China Airlines - Dynasty Flyer
12 May 2017
Total posts 7
In Melbourne, China Airlines uses Qantas Lounge anyway which will be similar to Brisbane and Sydney if you are on QF code. In Sydney, China Airlines uses SkyTeam Lounge.
China Airlines - Dynasty Flyer
22 Sep 2012
Total posts 78
I have seen Qantas members being able to use the QF lounge in BNE for this codeshare flight. In Taipei though I think they are unable to use the CI lounge. No idea if CX will let them in on the codeshare.
China Airlines - Dynasty Flyer
12 May 2017
Total posts 7
According to China Airlines, starting from 9 MAY to 27 OCT
26 Jun 2015
Total posts 6
Thank you China Airlines for your turnaround flights ex sydney. you'll have lot of good ideas.
12 Aug 2017
Total posts 2
Has anyone actually flown with China Airlines SYD-FRA on there preimium class and business class
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