China Airlines Orders 10 Airbus A350-1000, 10 Boeing 777-9

After a tumltuous few years, it's just good to see carriers getting back on their feet, placing orders for new toys and making invesments in their products no matter the size and cost. Geopolitics certainly played a role in this and I forsee PR also placing a Boeing order (not necessarily the 777X as their government is cozying up to the US as well)

I can see the A35K initially displace the 77W on JFK and LAX before the 777X comes in as it's more efficient while the 77W trickles down to OZ/NZ, SFO and YVR aside from increased regional flying. And I can see some new routes being added or even resumed especially with the expansion of TPE. I can see EVA ordering some 777Xs as well.

The only thing left for CI (and BR) to do would be to take part in improving the airport experience.

It's good to see the 777X getting new customers and I hope that momentum builds as Boeing is trying to get back on its feet after gong through turbulence themselves. But it'd be nice to have a completely new 777 customer aside from LH. The only major customer left would be QF who ironically, was part of the development of the original 777 program. I remember when there were a slew of new 777 customers that have not ordered the original 772/2ER from QR and Etihad to PR, Saudia, etc. placing orders for the 300ER/200LR.

Ben must be salivating over these upcoming flagship products!

Happy Holidays to all.

I'm jealous of Taiwan with three competitive FSCs, as someone who has to visit Korea often where soon a monopoly in FSC will begin.

China Airlines in Taiwan is mostly owned and controlled by the government, to split the order is also a political strategy.

To answer your question on the benefit is of having both the A350-1000 and 777-9, they had 20 744s at one time which was the most capable a/c at the time and you didn't have much to choose from as you do today. They were flying them pretty much to every long-haul destination. Now with the advent of smaller a/c with increased range, they can "right-size" accordingly to meet demand.

So it does make sense.

Entirely political reasons to split orders between Boeing and Airbus. When you are a small country with a big and covetous neighbor, you want as many friends as possible.

TPE and Taipei as a whole are quite space constrained.

The new terminal 3 should help a lot. EVA and CI will probably invest in new lounges.

I have to wonder whether TPE will find a way to fit this growth. The current terminals are overcrowded, and even when they do open TPE Terminal 3 over the next few years (2027?), the fact that the Ministry of Transport ordered the airport to stop construction on Terminal 4 and the third runway doesn't bode well for resolving the constant crowding issues that terminal faces. That being said, I really do look forward to the 3 carriers upping their lounge game at Taoyuan T3

Completely agree with all of this. I definitely expect EVA to order 777Xs later... they have A35Ks on order, but they'll lose capacity by ordering more A35Ks since their newer 777s are 3-4-3 in Y

Just like CI, EVA will displace the 77Ws with the A35Ks to JFK and LAX as it's more efficient and certainly more comfortable aside from being their flagship routes. Once they do get 777Xs, that trickles up to JFK and LAX initially, while the A35Ks trickle down to "less premium" and long and thin routes as well as for additional frequencies.

As an aside, how many 777s are in 9ab and on what routes are they used on anyway?

Impressive fleet evolution.

The new A350s are wider and can accommodate 3-4-3 in chicken class.

For a 10ab 77W, you either block off some seats with a belly full of cargo filled to the gills or you fill the seats, but leave some cargo behind.

The A35K does not have this problem. And I doubt they'll do 10ab on their A35Ks. PR is the only mainline carrier to have confirmed to go 10ab.

the question is when they will receive earlier fleet type and when any airline that is ordering today can get them.
Given the delays with the 777X and the backlog Boeing has to clear, it would seem that the 35K is more certain

> "Aviation in Taiwan sure is competitive, since you have three full service, global airlines, all of which are growing"

Not really. Taiwan has historically been an undeserved market.

BR and CI COMBINED is still smaller than Singapore Airlines, a fact pointed out by Starlux many times. That's also partly why Starlux exists, to take advantage of this clear market gap.

LCCs don't seem to be very popular in the market either, unlike other Asian countries.

All three TPE airlines are more profitable than ever. Helps that the local market is booming. There's absolutely enough room for everyone.

@Tom

This is a Trump order. No doubt Boeing will rebound and the lying fear mongering democrats that were calling for China to invade Taiwan will disappear now that grown ups are back in the U.S. govt. You’re welcome Taiwan. We are the mighty Taiwanese . No china.

Also, Taiwan is heavily focused on connecting Southeast Asia (plus a bit of Japan) to North America. There is only very limited service to Australia, mostly on CI; some scattered European routes; and nothing to India or the Middle East — similar to ANA and JAL, which are also very conservative in their route networks. Nowhere as trigger-happy in launching new routes as SQ, CX or KE.

Clearly, Taiwan (and all three airlines are highly competitive indeed) is prioritising premium products in specific markets over a big network covering more markets. There’s plenty of room to grow elsewhere, however.

Taiwanese airlines are benefitting because of the reduced amount of capacity by mainline Chinese airlines and the no-growth status which has defined flights via Tokyo and Seoul, the former because of Japanese airport policies and the latter because KE and OZ were waiting for merger approvals which they now have

What’s your silly fascination of thinking that a mixed fleet is bad? Many carriers do that, operating both Boeing and Airbus. And it works.

Ben,

You should know by now that airlines buy aircraft for the missions those aircraft are intended to serve. The 777, 787, and A350 families all have their strengths. And CI clearly sees merit in having a mixed mixed fleet, in order to best match capacity (both passenger and belly freight) and range to anticipated demand.

As others have noted, we can't ignore factors such as the final negotiated price and business terms for the planes, and the role that politics plays. I'm sure there was plenty of pressure being applied to CI to order aircraft from both Airbus and Boeing. We can't ignore Boeing's own problems, either -- especially with the 777X program. Ordering other aircraft will help CI hedge its bets should that program continue to face problems.

Terminal 3 will be quite an improvement. Current capacity is 15 million passengers for T1 and 22 million for T2, while T3 should add close to 45 million. So that's more than doubling the capacity.
Currently they expect to have the "north concourse" operational by mid-2025 and the rest by 2027 - whatever that means. Without the main hall, the only way I could see it being used is by connecting it to T2 and using the extra gates, but that won't add capacity - it would just reduce bus gates needed but come with super long walking distance, so I don't see the point in making it "operational" next year already.

I'm for sure hoping with T3 the lounges will get a bit better and bigger, and that they would separate terminal assignments by alliances (although I'm afraid they might just continue the current mess, spreading airlines over all terminals).

Besides, the new terminal also would be of limited use without the third runway. I didn't read any updates about it for quite some time, so I think construction probably hasn't even started yet.

I do like china Airlines special thier Logo it's a symbol of my favorite Flower