The Ministry of Transportation and Communications has shelved a long-term plan to change the name of China Airlines (CAL) due to the difficulties that the airline has encountered when dispatching cargo planes decorated with Taiwanese images, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) told a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday.
“In the short and medium term, we will ensure that the airline’s cargo planes have no trouble flying to other countries and that people will not mistake it for a Chinese airline,” Wang told lawmakers.
Although discussions about changing the name of the nation’s largest international carrier have been ongoing for more than a decade, it gathered steam again in 2020 when China Airlines delivered masks donated by Taiwan to countries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Photo courtesy of China Airlines
Several European news media outlets published photographs of the China Airlines’ cargo flights, but incorrectly identified the donations as coming from China.
The committee that year passed a motion asking the ministry, which owns 31 percent of China Airlines shares, to showcase Taiwanese images on its aircraft’s fuselage.
In December 2020, the airline presented a new fuselage design for its Boeing 777 cargo jets. The word “Cargo” was painted near the front of the aircraft, with the letter “C” shaped around a map of Taiwan.
The words “China Airlines” were significantly reduced in size and moved near the tail of the plane, with a plum blossom, the national flower, painted on the vertical stabilizer.
However, it was discovered that the map of Taiwan has been removed from the letter “C” on a new Boeing 777 cargo jet that arrived at the end of last month.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) told lawmakers in a plenary session last week that the cargo plane with the Taiwanese map fuselage design had been denied entry to airports in China, Hong Kong and Macau.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Ming-che (魯明哲) asked China Airlines president Kao Shing-hwang (高星潢) if the company still insists on meeting its long-term goal of changing its name given the problems that such a small change in the fuselage design has engendered.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said the government should consider using EVA Airways’ cargo jets to deliver materials donated to other countries, so people would not misidentify them as Chinese airplanes.
“Taiwan has donated aid to Ukrainian refugees in Europe, but people would never know the love and care of Taiwanese because they would think it was delivered by a Chinese airline,” Lin said, adding that China Airlines needs to address the issue to avoid confusion.
Kao told the committee that China Airlines, as a publicly traded firm, is obligated to protect its shareholders.
“The airline can only survive if its aircraft can fly to other countries. We will take all factors into consideration” when considering a new fuselage design, he said.
Changing the name of the airline is no small matter, as it involves applying for a new code with the International Civil Aviation Organization, Wang told reporters on the sidelines of the committee meeting.
Cargo jets featuring a map of Taiwan would be used to deliver goods to countries in North America, Wang said.
“Changing the name of China Airlines is a long-term goal. In the short term, we need to strike a balance between avoiding confusion and continuing flight services,” he said.
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data
The Supreme Court today rejected an appeal filed by former Air Force officer Shih Chun-cheng (史濬程), convicted of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) espionage, finalizing his sentence at two years and two months for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法). His other ruling, a ten-month sentence for an additional contravention, was meanwhile overturned and sent to the Taichung branch of the High Court for retrial, the Supreme Court said today. Prosecutors have been notified as Shih is considered a flight risk. Shih was recruited by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intelligence officials after his retirement in 2008 and appointed as a supervisor