Mandarin Airlines

Mandarin Airlines

IATA AE ICAO MDA Callsign MANDARIN
Founded	1991
Hubs	Taipei Songshan Airport Kaohsiung International Airport
Focus cities	Taichung Airport
Frequent-flyer program	Dynasty Flyer
Airport lounge	Dynasty Lounge
Alliance	SkyTeam (affiliate member)
Fleet size	9
Destinations	34 (including charter flights)
Parent company	China Airlines
Headquarters	Songshan District, Taipei (Republic of China)
Key people	Wang,Hwa-Yu (Chairman)
Website	mandarin-airlines.com/english/index.htm

Mandarin Airlines, Limited (華信航空; pinyin: Huáxìn Hángkōng) is an airline based in Songshan District, Taipei, Taiwan.^[1] The Republic of China-based airline is China Airlines' regional and domestic subsidiary. It also operates charter services. Its main base is Taichung Airport.

History

Mandarin Airlines was established on June 1, 1991, and was originally a joint venture of China Airlines (66%) and the Koo's Development Corporation (33%); the names of both investors formed the Chinese name of Mandarin Airlines.^[2] Mandarin's establishment had much to do with the political status of Taiwan. At the time, Mandarin Airlines' parent company, China Airlines, still carried the national flag of the Republic of China on its livery as a symbol of the continued existence of the Republic of China government. Because of this, the People's Republic of China used its influence to block any country that it had formal diplomatic relationship with from allowing China Airlines to establish routes to it, such as Canada and Australia. However, PRC objected less to ROC airlines that did not carry the national flag from flying international routes, thus Mandarin Airlines was established to take advantage of this, while preserving China Airlines' role as the flag carrier of the Republic of China.^{[citation needed]}

On 16 October 1991, Mandarin Airlines started operations with direct flights from Taipei to Sydney in Australia. The next step was the opening of a direct air route to Vancouver in Canada on 7 December 1991. Thus, Mandarin Airlines became ROC's first airline to fly direct to Australia and Canada.^{[citation needed]} The China Trust Group pulled its investment in Mandarin Airlines on 31 October 1992, turning the airline into a company virtually wholly owned by China Airlines (90.05%) by December 1992. Also, Mandarin Airlines' role was changed to be a primary domestic and short-range intra-regional airline,^[2] after parent China Airlines was able to re-establish its emphasis on international routes, due to it changed to a new livery that did not include the national flag, and thus faced less objection from PRC.^{[citation needed]}

On 8 August 1999 China Airlines formally merged its subsidiary, Mandarin Airlines, with Formosa Airlines under the Mandarin name. Mandarin took over Formosa's domestic operations and aircraft while Mandarin's fleet and most of its international flights were transferred to China Airlines.^[2] In early 2000, the airline bought 5 Dornier 228 from Uni Air to fly out-lying routes. These planes were sold to Daily Air in 2005, a helicopter carrier in Taiwan which recently won the bid to fly these money-losing routes.^{[citation needed]}

Mandarin Airlines is owned by China Airlines (93.99%) and has 630 employees (at March 2007).^[3]

Logo

The airline uses Hai Tung Ching, a golden eagle from a Chinese legend, as its logo.^[4]

Destinations

Mandarin Airlines operates the following services (as of April 2011) ^[5] The mainland Chinese destinations may include scheduled charter service or indirect routing which transit through non-Chinese country.

• China
  • Changsha (Changsha Huanghua International Airport)
  • Fuzhou (Fuzhou Changle International Airport)
  • Hangzhou (Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport)
  • Nanjing (Nanjing Lukou International Airport)
  • Ningbo (Ningbo Lishe International Airport)
  • Shenyang (Shenyang Taoxian International Airport)
  • Xiamen (Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport)
  • Zhengzhou (Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport)
• Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong International Airport
• Japan
  • Ishigaki - Ishigaki Airport
  • Osaka - Kansai International Airport charter
  • Tokyo - Narita International Airport
• Malaysia
  • Kota Kinabalu - Kota Kinabalu International Airport
• South Korea
  • Seoul - Incheon International Airport
• Taiwan
  • Hualien - Hualien Airport
  • Kaohsiung - Kaohsiung International Airport Hub
  • Kinmen - Kinmen Airport
  • Makung - Magong Airport
  • Taichung - Taichung Airport Focus city
  • Taipei
    • Songshan Airport Hub
    • Taoyuan International Airport
  • Taitung - Taitung Airport
• Vietnam
  • Hanoi - Noi Bai International Airport[begins 7 November]
  • Ho Chi Minh City - Tan Son Nhat International Airport

Former destination

• North Korea: Pyongyang
• Myanmar: Yangon

Fleet

A Mandarin Airlines Fokker 100 preparing to take off in Taipei Songshan Airport.

Fokker F100 from Mandarin Airlines in Taipei (Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport) - 16 October 2006

The Mandarin Airlines fleet includes the following aircraft (as of October 2009)^[6]:

Mandarin Airlines Fleet

Aircraft	In Fleet	Passengers (Economy)	Notes
Embraer 190AR	8	104	4 leased from GECAS

Mandarin Airlines announced the lease of three Embraer E-190s and five Embraer E-195 aircraft from GE Commercial Aviation Services. The aircraft will be used on the dedicated connection flights between Kaohsiung International Airport and Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport as well as shorthaul routes in Asia, and replace the fleet of Fokker 50 and Fokker 100s.^[7] The first of eight leased Embraer E-190/195s was delivered to the airline in May 2007, the first to a Taiwanese airline.^[8] The Embraer E-190s feature a refreshened livery.^[9] On October 27, 2009, Mandarin Airlines retired its last Fokker 100 aircraft(B12291), ending this type's 14-year serving era.^[10]

Incidents and accidents

Mandarin Airlines MD-11 (B-151)

• China Airlines Flight 642 crashed in Hong Kong International Airport in 1999, resulting in three passenger deaths. The aircraft was painted in Mandarin Airlines's livery but originally China Airlines' before the fleet transferral.

References

1. ^ "Contact Us." Mandarin Airlines. Retrieved on March 15, 2010. "台北總公司: 105台北市民生東路三段134號13樓."
2. ^ ^{a b c} "About Us." Mandarin Airlines. Retrieved on March 7, 2010.
3. ^ "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International: p. 47. 2007-04-10. 
4. ^ "Our business mark and concept of operations." Mandarin Airlines.
5. ^ "Our Flight Destinations." Mandarin Airlines.
6. ^ "Directory: World Airlines (2009)". Flight International: 41–87. 2009-03-31. 
7. ^ Mandarin Airlines News
8. ^ Air Transport World 15 May 2007
9. ^ Airliners.net
10. ^ 華信FK-100機隊 光榮除役

External links

	Republic of China portal
	Taiwan portal
	Companies portal
	Aviation portal

• Mandarin Airlines
• Mandarin Airlines (Chinese)
• Mandarin Airlines Fleet

[[Category:China Airlines Group