Taiwan is changing the face of its presence in Canada and in the process has added a second player. Now the question is whether Ottawa will do the same in Taipei.
Before the latest update in the Taiwan-Canada bilateral, Mandarin Airlines, a subsidiary of China Airlines (CAL), was Taiwan's only carrier to Canada. Both countries agreed in February to allow double designation and Taipei promptly named EVA as its second carrier. EVA will start in June with three weekly Taipei-Vancouver flights.
CAL's decision to fly to Canada under its own colours form part of broader plans to merge Mandarin with Formosa Airlines. CAL approved that merger in early March and is waiting for Formosa's other shareholders to ratify it. CAL will turn all domestic routes over to the merged airline, to operate under the Mandarin name. In return, CAL will take back routes to Australia and Canada.
The only reason for Mandarin's existence was to avoid Beijing's objections to CAL serving new markets. CAL formed Mandarin as a subsidiary to fly where that was a sensitive issue. In 1995, when CAL replaced Taiwan's flag on the side of its jets with a plum blossom, Mandarin's days became numbered.
Double designation between Canada and Taiwan could spell trouble for Canadian Airlines. It has enjoyed a monopoly on the route, one of its biggest Asian earners during the region's crisis. Earlier this year, Canadian redeployed a Boeing 747 to Taiwan from its lacklustre Japan service, producing a 77% jump in Taiwan traffic. Under Canada's route allocation policy, however, once Canadian passes 300,000 scheduled passengers a year on any route, Air Canada is entitled to serve the same route, too.
Source: Airline Business
