EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空), the nation’s second-largest airline, announced plans to cooperate with China Eastern Airlines Corp (CEA, 中國東方航空) in Taipei yesterday, including the authorization of EVA Airways to provide ground handling services at Taipei’s Songshan Airport and the signing of an endorsement waiver agreement for other cross-strait weekend charter flight locations.
Although plans have yet to be finalized, EVA Airways said both airlines had already reached a consensus. Moreover, EVA Airways said it was confident that cooperation with the Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines would be beneficial to EVA Airways’ future expansion into China.
“China Eastern Airlines owns 230 large and medium-sized aircrafts and operates about 450 domestic and international air routes, which EVA Airways believes will help our development in China,” EVA Airways spokesman Nieh Kuo-wei (聶國維) said yesterday.
Cao Jianxiong (曹建雄), president of China Eastern Airlines, one of the three major Chinese state-owned aviation groups, announced yesterday that the airline would offer four flights every weekend, including two flights from Pudong, Shanghai, to Songshan and Taoyuan airports and one from Nanjing to Songshan Airport.
“Although operations on the Nanjing to Songshan Airport will be unprofitable in the initial stage, China Eastern Airlines says it wishes to do something positive for the development of cross-strait relations,” Cao said.
Moreover, based on previous collaboration between the two airlines, EVA Airways and China Eastern Airlines agreed to work toward a code-sharing agreement, which at present does not apply to cross-strait weekend charter flights, and a frequent flyer program.
After the implementation of cross-strait weekend charter flights on July 4, EVA Airways and UNI Airways Corp (立榮航空), a subsidiary of Evergreen Group (長榮集團), would provide a total of seven round trip flights per weekend, including one flight each from Songshan to Guangzhou, Songshan to Shanghai, Kaohsiung to Guangzhou, Taoyuan to Guangzhou, Taoyuan to Beijing, and two flights from Taoyuan to Shanghai.
Meanwhile, Bruce Chen (陳鵬宇), spokesman of China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), the nation’s largest airline, said CAL would sign a memorandum with China Southern Airlines (中國南方航空) on Monday, without providing details.
CAL and its subsidiary, Mandarin Airlines Ltd (華信航空), are poised to launch 29 round trip flights to Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Xiamen starting next month.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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