A delegation including Mr. Jeff Hu, President, Mandarin Airlines, the Mayor of Taichung, and Mr. Steven Yang, Sr. VP, China Airlines, attended the october 31 inaugural flight ceremony at Taichung airport

Since the first regularly scheduled nonstop flight from mainland China to Taiwan landed in 2008, airlines between the two countries have been steadily adding frequencies and tapping into sixty years of pent-up demand. Thanks to a bilateral ruling between governments last June, the number of authorized weekly cross straight flights has increased from 370 to 558.

While carriers have scheduled nonstops with large capacity aircraft between the biggest mainland cities – Shanghai and Beijing – and Taipei, China Airlines has recognized the market potential between secondary cities and introduced more flights on five new city pairs on October 31. The new nonstops are flown by 104-seat E190s operated by Mandarin Airlines, a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Airlines.

Mr. Jeff Hu, President of Mandarin Airlines, Mr. Steven Yang, Sr. Vice President of China Airlines, a representative from the office of the Mayor of Taichung and local industry officials and VIPs celebrated the new services at a ceremony at Taichung Airport. An E190 sporting a special livery sponsored by the Tourism Board of Taiwan made the first flight to Chongqing.

The new services will bring the total number of China Airlines flights to 103 per week between Taiwan and the mainland. The E190s are flying between Taichung in central Taiwan and cities in the municipality of Chongqing in southwestern China. That region is a key business and tourist center and also a commercial and transportation hub. There is also a new E190 flight between Taichung and Nanchan, the provincial capital of Jiangxi province in southeastern China.

E190s are linking Taichung with seven cities on the mainland with flight times up to three hours. On average, the aircraft have one hour on the ground at their destinations before returning to Taichung.

The special E190 livery is sponsored by theTourism Board of Taiwan and features an artistic rendering of Sun Moon Lake (Ri Yue Tan).

E190 Nonstops

Between Taichung and Chongqing – 2 weekly flights

Ningbo – 2 weekly flights

Hangzhou – 2 weekly flights

Fuzhou – 2 weekly flights

Nanchang – 1 weekly flight

Wuhan –1 weekly flight

Zhengzhou _ 1 weekly flight