China Airlines launches first A350 XWB flights to the US

TIN news:  Taipei-based China Airlines launched its first Airbus A350 XWB route to the US May 14, from Taipei Taoyuan International Airport to San Francisco, California. The 2X-weekly service will be increased to 4X-weekly from June 28, supplementing the existing daily Taipei-San Francisco flights to 11X-weekly services.

The Taiwanese SkyTeam member has 14 A350-900s on order with 10 of the type to be delivered by the end of this year, according to a carrier statement.

China Airlines expects to have all 18 aircraft in service in 2018.

Starting from August, the A350s will also operate on the Taipei-Vancouver route. The airline has codeshare agreements in place on North America routes with Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, Virgin America and Canada’s WestJet.

The carrier’s A350s feature 306 seats in three classes, with 32 in premium-business class, 31 in premium economy and 243 in economy. It launched its first A350 services to Europe Jan. 9, 2017, from Taipei to Amsterdam and Vienna.