Mainland and Taiwanese carriers script historic alliance

Taipei: Taiwan carrier, China Airlines and China Southern Airlines signed a memorandum of strategic cooperation in Guangzhou on Monday, 23 June, which will see both carriers joining hands in tapping the global and Chinese markets and also in providing service for cross-Taiwan Strait flights.

The alliance is expected to help China Airlines gain access to the Mainland Chinese market while China Southern Airlines will hope to expand its global reach. China Southern seeks access to international traffic, for it remains a domestic player even though it operates a massive fleet of 330 jetliners which network major cities throughout China.

The memorandum was signed by Chao Kuo-shuai, chairman of China Airlines, and Liu Shaoyong, chairman of Southern China Airlines. The ceremony was attended by officials from the Civil Aviation Administration of China and the Taiwan Affairs Office of Guangdong Province.

Taiwan's China Airlines now forms a strategic alliance with China Southern, much along the lines of  alliances formed by Air China /Cathay Airlines and Eastern China Airlines/Singapore Airlines.

The alliance will cover an extensive range of services, including code-share, passenger transfer for abnormal flights, warehousing agency for transit flights, joint preferential tickets and travel arrangements.