Despite being statistically one of the most dangerous carriers in the world, China Airlines Co (
In a survey of tour leaders and travel agents, Common Health (康健雜誌) magazine -- a sister publication of the popular CommonWealth (天下雜誌) magazine -- reported in its July edition that respondents said that out of the 29 airlines that service routes to Taiwan, China Airlines ranked number two in terms of healthiness.
The measure of healthiness was arrived at by asking questions about such factors as seat comfort, service attitude, cabin space, in-flight meals, humidity, noise, audio and video entertainment, lavatory cleanliness and flight safety record.
Of the 905 surveys sent out, only 274 or 30.28 percent were returned prior to the China Airlines crash on May 25.
Singapore Airlines Ltd (
But while ranking number one in the individual categories of seat comfort, service attitude, in-flight meals and health information, China Airlines did not score high on flight safety, even though the survey was taken before the May crash.
However, the rankings appear to diverge from the statistics, as China Airlines was ranked at number six in terms of flight safety, despite the fact that the air carrier had been viewed as one of the most dangerous air carriers in the world, even prior to the crash.
Australia's Qantas Airlines, which has never experienced a fatal event was ranked just above China Airlines at number five.
Singapore Airlines, which suffered 83 fatalities at Taiwan's Chiang Kai Shek International Airport during a takeoff roll in October 2000, was ranked number one in this category, trailed by EVA and Cathay Pacific.
Remarkably, in light of China Airlines' strong showing, respondents ranked airline flight safety as the second most important factor in assessing in-flight health.
In the ten fatal incidents involving China Airlines flights since 1970, 801 passengers have perished, making it arguably the deadliest carrier in the world.
China Airlines over the weekend offered the families of victims of its May 25 crash NT$6.5 million per victim for emergency use. The disaster claimed 225 lives. The emergency funds will be deducted from the final amount of compensation paid. The amount of compensation has yet to be arrived at.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is