China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) is to increase its free baggage allowance by 10kg for passengers flying to Europe, Australia or New Zealand, while lowering its fee for luggage exceeding the free weight limit, it said yesterday.
The move is the airline’s latest effort to attract passengers, after local rival EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) late last month announced that from Thursday it would increase its free baggage weight allowance for all passengers.
For economy-class passengers who fly to destinations other than the US and Canada, CAL currently has three weight limits for free baggage based on the airfare — 20kg for “discount” tickets, 30kg for “basic” and “standard” fares, and 35kg for “flex” fare, its Web site showed.
Photo courtesy of China Airlines Ltd
Each fare offers different services, such as seat selection or the ability to change a flight without charge, the company said.
The weight limits have been increased by 10kg starting from yesterday, it said.
Under the change, economy-class passengers can check 45kg of baggage for free if they buy tickets under the “flex” fare category, it said.
EVA is to offer a maximum baggage allowance of 46kg for economy-class passengers, but requests that they check only two pieces of luggage not exceeding 23kg each.
CAL is also to lower its fee for luggage that exceeds the free weight limit for passengers flying to Asian destinations from US$15 per kilogram to US$8 per kilogram, and reduce the charge for passengers flying to Europe, Australia and New Zealand from US$45 per kilogram and US$30 per kilogram respectively to US$10 per kilogram, it said.
The airline reported that passenger revenue grew 231 percent year-on-year to NT$489 million (US$16.45 million) last month, its highest passenger revenue in a single month this year, thanks to a significant growth in passenger numbers and higher ticket prices.
For the first five months of the year, the airline’s passenger revenue expanded 37 percent to NT$2.36 billion, which is still dwarfed by its cargo revenue of NT$128 billion during the same period, company data showed.
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