Qantas is again offering direct flights to Taiwan after announcing a deal that will see it place its QF code on China Airlines flights from Brisbane and Sydney to Taipei from October.
China Airlines flies four times a week between Sydney and Taipei and operates Brisbane-Taipei three days a week. Qantas said there would be up to 10 return services a week between Australia and Taipei during peak travel periods.
“We’ve seen a growth in the number of our customers travelling to Taipei via our Singapore and Hong Kong hubs,” Qantas executive manager of international sales Stephen Thompson said in a statement on Tuesday.
“By providing greater access to Taiwan with a direct codeshare service and more opportunities to earn frequent flyer points, we’re confident our customers will enjoy this new route to Taipei.”
Qantas has not offered a direct service to Taiwan since ending a previous codeshare agreement with EVA Air on the Brisbane-Taipei route in March 2013. Since then it has served Taipei over Singapore where the second leg is on low-cost carrier Jetstar Asia or over Hong Kong interlining with Cathay Pacific and Dragonair.
Bookings for the new codeshare flights open on September 1 for travel after October 15, Qantas said.
This latest agreement with China Airlines comes on top of other codeshare partnerships already forged in Asia with the likes of Guangzhou-based China Southern, China Eastern in Shanghai and Thailand’s Bangkok Airways.
Both China Airlines’ Australian services are flown with Airbus A330 aircraft and continue onto Auckland, and it will also operate seasonal services between Sydney and Christchurch during the summer holiday period between December and March, according to the airline’s website.
Qantas hasn’t flown to Taiwan with its own aircraft since the 1990s, when it set up a separate entity called Australia Asia Airways so as to not get on the wrong side of the government of the People’s Republic of China. Australia Asia Airways used two Boeing 747SPs and one 767 which had no Australian flag or white kangaroo on the red tail.
