China Airlines Co (中華航空) said yesterday that it will take delivery of two new B737-800 passenger jets as it mulls the purchase of 16 aircraft amid pressure from Boeing and Airbus.
The two new jets brings the number of B737-800s in China Airlines' fleet to 11.
The airline said its passenger fleet would be simplified in time into only four types -- B747-400, B737-800, A340-300 and A300-600R. China Airlines retired its last MD-11 passenger jet earlier this month.
The average age of the carrier's fleet, which includes 41 passenger and 15 cargo aircraft, is now 5.8 years, it said.
China Airlines is speeding up its fleet rejuvenation plans after one of its Boeing 747-200 passenger jets disintegrated in mid-air before plunging into the Taiwan Strait on May 25, killing all 225 people aboard.
The carrier yesterday said sales in June fell 11 percent from a year earlier to NT$5.33 billion (US$157 million). For the first half, sales rose 6 percent to NT$36.1 billion from NT$34.1 billion, it said.
Douglas Paal, the chief of the Taipei Office of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), visited Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Ling-san (林陵三).
During the meeting, Lin told Paal, who took up his new post July 1, that the China Airlines aircraft deal was a commercial deal, and the ministry would not interfere.
This is dispite the well-known fact that the ministry controls the management of China Aviation Development Foundation (
Chinese-language newspapers last week said Europe's Airbus is seeking US$410 million less than US-based Boeing Co in a bid to win aircraft orders from Taiwan's biggest airline. China Airlines is buying 16 new planes for about US$1.5 billion and wants the supplier to purchase six used Airbus 340s in return, the papers said.
Airbus had quoted China Airlines US$127 million for an A330 and offered to buy back the A340s for US$86 million apiece, the papers said. Boeing wanted US$132 million for a 777 jet and had offered to buy the used planes for US$31 million each.
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