Mandarin Airlines

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Mandarin Airlines (華信航空; pinyin: Huáxìn Hángkōng) is a regional and domestic airline based in Taipei in Taiwan and is a subsidiary of China Airlines. Its main base is Taipei Songshan Airport (TSA) in Taipei.

[edit] History

Mandarin Airlines was established on June 1, 1991 and was originally a joint venture of China Airlines (66%) and the Kuo's Development Corporation (33%). Its 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 at mainland China had used its influence to block any country that it had formal diplomatic relationship with from allowing China Airlines to establish routes to it, such in the case of Canada and Australia. However, PRC was less objective 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.

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. The China Trust Group pulled out their 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, 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.

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. The airline now has 622 employees.

In early 2000, the airline took 5 Dornier 228 from Uni Air for outer-lying routes operation. But these planes are sold to Daily Air in 2005, a helicopter carrier in Taiwan which recently won the bid for flying these money-losing routes.

[edit] Incidents and accidents

• Mandarin Airlines Flight 642 flew from Bangkok International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand to Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong, crashed during the final approach. 3 passengers died.

• In 2005, the de-icing gear fell from the propeller on a Fokker 50 and smashed through the window near Row 2A when flying from Taipei to Hengchun. The aircraft was at an altitude of 4000ft when the incident occurred. A few minutes after, the pilot decided to divert the plane to Kaohsiung due to bad weather. No one suffered severe injuries but passengers claim wind and rain were pouring into the aircraft.

[edit] Services

Mandarin Airlines operates the following services (at June 2005):

[edit] East Asia

• Taiwan
  • Hengchun
  • Hualien
  • Kaohsiung (Kaohsiung International Airport)
  • Kinmen
  • Makung
  • Taichung
  • Taipei
    • (Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport)
    • (Taipei Songshan Airport)
  • Taitung
• China
  • Hong Kong (Hong Kong International Airport)
• South Korea
  • Seoul (Incheon International Airport)
• Japan
  • Hakodate (Hakodate Airport)-charter
  • Miyazaki-charter
  • Nagasaki (Nagasaki Airport)
  • Noto-charter
  • Toyama (Toyama Airport)

[edit] Southeast Asia

• Philippines
  • Cebu (Mactan-Cebu International Airport)
• Myanmar
  • Yangon (Yangon International Airport)
• Thailand
  • Hat Yai (Hat Yai International Airport)
• Vietnam
  • Ho Chi Minh City (Tan Son Nhat International Airport)-charter

[edit] Fleet

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

The Mandarin Airlines fleet includes the following aircraft (at August 2006) ^[1] :

• 2 Boeing 737-800
• 6 Fokker 100
• 5 Fokker 50

Mandarin Airlines is to lease three Embraer 190s and five 195s from GE Commercial Aviation Services. The aircraft will be used on shorthaul routes in Asia to replace a fleet of Fokker 50s and 100s^[2].

Previously operated:

• 4 Dornier 228-212. Transferred to Daily Air of Taiwan
• 1 Airbus A340-300X (a former Singapore Airlines aircraft leased from Boeing by China Airlines painted in the Mandarin Airlines livery.)
• Boeing 747
• McDonnell Douglas MD-11

[edit] External links

• Mandarin Airlines

[edit] References

1. ^ Flight International, 3-9 October 2006
2. ^ http://www.mandarin-airlines.com/en/enews_608.htm