China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), the nation's largest carrier, and subsidiary Mandarin Airlines (華信航空) announced yesterday that they will work together to provide direct cross-strait charter flights during the Lunar New Year holidays.
From Feb. 13 to Feb. 25, the two carriers will provide a total of 16 round-trip flights, including eight on the Taipei-Shanghai route, two on the Taipei-Beijing route, four on the Taipei-Guangzhou route and two on the Kaohsiung-Shanghai route, the airlines said in a statement released yesterday.
Mandarin Airlines will begin the flights on Feb. 13 from Taipei to Shanghai, while CAL will start the services on Feb. 14 on the same route, the statement said.
Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A330-300 aircraft will be used for the charter flights, it added.
Passengers of China Airlines and Mandarin Airlines can use their tickets interchangeably on both airlines and can combine scheduled flights with the charter flights, the companies said.
Passengers with scheduled flight tickets can switch their tickets to charter flights after paying the price difference without handling fees, they said. Tickets for the charter flights are 4 percent to 7 percent higher than those for scheduled flights.
EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空), Taiwan's second-largest carrier, plans to fly eight round-trip charter flights, including six on the Taipei-Shanghai route and two on the Taipei-Beijing route, the carrier said in a separate release yesterday.
The Lunar New Year schedules of the three carriers are currently undergoing reviews by aviation authorities in both Taiwan and China.
Passengers who have joined the frequent flyer programs of the three airlines will be able to accumulate mileage on the charter flights.
CAL shares dropped 0.31 percent to close at NT$16.20 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday, while EVA Airways shares were up 1.02 percent to NT$14.85. Mandarin Airlines is not listed on the TAIEX.
Thanks to the recent drop in fuel prices, both CAL and EVA Airways had their ratings upgraded to "outperform" from "neutral" by Credit Suisse Group, Hong Kong-based analysts Karen Chan and Peter Hilton said in a note to investors dated Jan. 17.
The analysts said CAL would "also see improving operational quality with a better yield increase, thanks to its efforts in fleet rationalization and network building."
Credit Suisse forecast a profit of NT$1 billion (US$30.5 million) for CAL in the fourth quarter of last year and of NT$700 million for EVA Airways during the same period, it said.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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