China Airlines is expanding its Airbus A350 fleet, as the airline is picking up a former Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) jet. This is the second airline to do so, as Malaysia Airlines recently made a similar move.
Continue reading: China Airlines Acquires Scandinavian Airlines Airbus A350
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
All is fair here. I think it is clever to buy previously owned airplanes. In my opinion, the SAS interiors are very elegant and calming. I imagine that the buyer received incredible value for the purchase of the a350’s. This is a terrific purchase. They will also benefit from their relatively fast entry into service.
I thought SAS got these A350s to replace more expensive to operate A340s. How does getting rid of its more efficient aircraft help in the plan to be more profitable? Slightly sarcastic but also genuinely wondering?
These A350s were leased if I'm not mistaken, and it's a very expensive plane to lease. Considering their network to the Far East got butchered due to the closure of Russian airspace, it only makes sense to get rid of the most expensive planes in the fleet, efficient or not.
Sad to see these birds leave the SAS fleet, but good to see them fly with respectable airlines. I've got nothing but good things to say about the cabins.
I think these aircraft were returned to the lessor via chapter 11 quite a while ago. They have not flown anywhere for the last 90 days.
It’s not entirely correct just to say this is due to “cut costs”. SAS have been clear that this is due to canceled routes to Asia following pandemic and the war. They have cut down on frequencies to PVG and HND and haven’t restarted PEK and HKG, so they had a surplus of aircraft’s.
One could see that SAS was having troubles. I flew with them last year OSL/CPH/VNO and service was way below standard for business class. When we parked (in the rain!) at VNO, no umbrellas were on hand and passengers had to run from the plane to a bus that took us to the terminal. Everyone was soaked and no one at SAS seemed to care.
I thought China Airlines eventually acquired one Ex-SAS’s A350-900 from lessor unread of two.
I'm not a big fan of SAS' service either, but considering SAS doesn't offer business class on any of their intra-Europe flights, I'm unsure why you were disappointed with not receiving business class service.
And which airline has "umbrellas at hand" at remote stands? Where would they store them? Have someone run up the stairs with 200 umbrellas?
May I suggest booking the service class you prefer to travel in on your next travels, and bring your own foldable umbrella.
1. SAS offers Premium economy, not business class on intra-European flights, thus no C-class service should be expected.
2. Umbrellas... get real. I suggest you bring your own small collapsable one, which takes up very little space in your hand luggage.
If the config doesn't change, does it mean it would still be the same look as the Scandinavian airline or does the look of interior change to match the China Airline interior look?
Sitting on this plane now. B-18919 is the registration and they seem to be operating exclusively on Taipei-Rome and Taipei-Singapore sectors. Can confirm the interior is decidedly SAS, no changes except some minimal China Airlines branding on headrests and IFE. If you’re in Y+ this would be a downgrade on this aircraft.
Flew on B-18919 on the FCO-TPE-FCO flight last week and confirm that the cabin configuration is still the SAS one. Very limited adjustments made to the branding. Traveled in business class, so that experince was still fine.
I am taxiing at FCO on this aircraft in Y+. Very disappointed as seats are inferior and no Sky Bar etc
It’s a nice plane. Flew FCO-TPE recently. Biz class is separated into 2 cabins. The 2nd smaller cabin is more private w only 8 seats.