China Airlines becomes new SkyTeam Alliance member

China Airlines announced that it has joined SkyTeam Alliance, the leading global airline alliance, by becoming its 15th full member. The airline recently signed an agreement with SkyTeam Alliance to become its member.

The airline, which currently operates flight services to 80 destinations, stated that by joining the SkyTeam Alliance its global destinations will significantly increase to 926. China Airlines hopes to achieve major revenue gains by next year and expects to add US$329 million to US$658 million in company revenues.

Sun Hung-hsiang, President of China Airlines, said that by becoming a full member of SkyTeam Alliance will be surely beneficial as past records indicate that a carrier’s yearly revenue grows substantially by 1% to 7%. He said that by conservative estimate Taiwan’s national carrier is likely to earn US$26 million for next year when it completes one year as full member of SkyTeam Alliance. Besides, he also said that China Airlines will also reduce its costs by 1% to 2%. The airline expects to initially save between 0.5% and 1% for the next year.

  In future it expects to join a global cargo alliance SkyTeam Cargo as well. The airline disclosed in a statement that its cargo business is facing troubled times and doesn’t expect to fare well this year. The airline hopes that with its becoming a member of SkyTeam Alliance, joining SkyTeam Cargo is highly likely.