China Airlines – the Eastern dragon of airlines
The Republic of China has undergone a period of huge financial growth after adopting a more lenient policy for its border patrols in the last few decades. Indeed, the country’s government has adopted a unique approach to its communist structure by enjoying flourishing trade with other companies at an international level. Furthermore, a continual large source of revenue for the company is the ever-impressive tourism industry. China enjoys a huge amount of tourism every year which generates huge amounts of money for the country. Importantly, much of this traffic is transported by China Airlines.
The airline is the largest of its kind in China and is the official flag carrier of China. As with many companies in China, this means that the airline can experience exclusive privileges and indirect intervention from the government in regards to its operating procedures. Technically however, the company is not directly owned and operated by the state government. The airline is in fact under the ownership of the China Airlines Group, which in turn is under ownership of the China Aviation Development Foundation. Since the Republic of China’s government directly owns the China Aviation Department, ipso facto, the state essentially owns China Airlines.
The airline is headquartered in CAL Park in Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, from where it controls and organises all of its flight operations management. The airline services to flights around the world to destinations across Europe, Oceania and North America. It is a particularly dominant presence throughout Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and East Asia, operating a large amount of commercial flights in between and around each region of Asia.
In July 2008, China Airlines began to operate scheduled flights between China and Taiwan. The majority of flights that cater for this service are concentrated around the prolific Chinese cities of Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing; the capital city of the whole of the Republic of China. The airline has been servicing flights across the route to Hong Kong since early 1967. This is essentially the airline’s most targeted and lucrative profit market, as it generates and accounts for approximately 13.3% of the company’s revenue.The airline operates more than one hundred and forty flights every week, flying between Hong Kong, Kaohsiung and Taipei. Whilst this accounts for a large amount of the airline’s profit, it should be noted that the airline makes a particularly large amount of revenue each year, with figures being as high as 3.7 billion US dollars in 2006.