China Airlines and China Southern Airlines to Forge Strategic Alliance

Taipei, June 24, 2008 (CENS)--China Airlines of Taiwan and China Southern Airlines signed a memorandum of strategic cooperation in Guangzhou yesterday (June 23), aiming to join hands in tapping the global and Chinese markets and providing convenient service to cross-Taiwan Strait flight passengers.

The alliance is expected to help China Airlines stepping into the Chinese market and Southern Taiwan Airlines expand its global aviation business supplementing each other's weakness in their operation. China Airlines lacks experience in the Chinese market, despite its competence in international flights, while South China Airlines lags behind China Airlines in the global market, although it owns a massive fleet of 330 jetliners reaching major cities throughout China.

The memorandum was signed by Chao Kuo-shuai, chairman of China Airlines, and Liu Shaoyong, chairman of Southern China Airlines, in a ceremony attended by officials from the Civil Aviation Administration of China and the Taiwan Affairs Office of Guangdong Province.

China Airlines thus becomes the strategic partner of one of China's major airlines, following the strategic alliances of Air China /Cathay Airlines and Eastern China Airlines/Singapore Airlines.

Cha Kuo-shuai noted that the alliance is an extension of the cooperation between the two airlines from 1996 including cross-airline passenger reporting, luggage through shipment, joint mileage bonus, and transit flight.

The alliance will cover an extensive range, including the sharing of flight number, passenger transfer for abnormal flights, warehousing agency for transit flights, joint preferential tickets, and travel arrangement.