China Airlines (CAL, 華航) new Air-bus A330-300 model, painted with nine types of fruit, will arrive at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport at around 10am today, the airline said yesterday.
It will be the second plane that China Airlines, the nation's largest air carrier, has decorated with images of Taiwanese agricultural products. The plane was handed over to the airline in a ceremony at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France, on Tuesday.
It's maiden flight will be a trip to Tokyo on June 28, followed by a flight to Singapore on July 4, the company said, adding that fruit-tasting promotions would be held in both cities.
This new aircraft "is no longer just an airplane, it represents Taiwan's high-quality agricultural products, and through the extensive network of China Airlines, more people around the world will learn more about Taiwan," CAL chairman Philip Wei (
The fruits painted on the plane are lychees, pineapples, bananas, mangoes, bell fruits, star fruits, jujubes, papayas and tangerines.
The Council of Agriculture and CAL began their cooperation project last year when they chose moth orchids (phalaenopsis) as their first pattern.
Chen Ruey-long (
Chen said the orchid-painted plane has proven the effectiveness of decorating planes as a marketing strategy.
According to the council's statistics, exports of moth orchids grew 15 percent last year and the export value of the flowers and plants reached US$8.2 million.
On Tuesday Wei said CAL's next Airbus would be decorated with images of lavender.
* The Airbus A330-300 that arrives today has been painted with lychees, star fruits, mangoes and six other types of Taiwanese fruit.
* Last year CAL decorated one of its planes with a painting of moth orchids.
* The next plane in the fleet to be decorated will feature a lavender design.
CAL has received 11 of the 14 A330-300s it ordered. The last three will be delivered by the end of next year.
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