《TAIPEI TIMES》 China Airlines begins service to east Los Angeles

/ Staff writer

China Airlines Ltd （CAL, 中華航空） yesterday launched direct flights between Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Ontario International Airport in California, making it the first Asian carrier to introduce regular services to the destination in eastern Los Angeles.

CAL offered the non-stop service in a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft and said it would offer seven flights a week on the new route.

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The company has already achieved average bookings of 70 percent at launch despite the March-to-April period being the off-peak travel season, it said in a statement.

CAL chairman Ho Nuan-hsuan （何煖軒）, who hosted a ceremony at Taoyuan airport yesterday to celebrate the new route’s launch, said that extensive studies and assessments conducted by the company have paid off.

CAL expects the new service to help the company tap into the market for travel between Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and Macau in the Chinese community of eastern Los Angeles, it said.

The company has now set its sights on the market for travel between Greater Los Angeles and Southeast Asia, it added.

With the addition of the new Taoyuan-Ontario route, CAL now offers six non-stop services to destinations in the US, with 32 flights a week.

The latest move came after CAL in December last year launched non-stop flights between Taoyuan airport and Gatwick Airport in London. The company is next month to begin providing direct flights to Paris in collaboration with Air France.

Regarding its services to popular destinations in Italy, CAL is considering adding flights to Milan by the end of this year, in addition to current flights to Rome, the Central News Agency yesterday quoted CAL senior vice president Chang Chih-chieh （張志潔） as saying.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES