Mandarin Airlines
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Mandarin Airlines (華信航空) is a regional and domestic airline based in Taipei in Taiwan and is a subsidiary of China Airlines. Its main base is Chiang Kai Shek International Airport (TPE) in Taipei.
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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%). 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.
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.
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 final flare. 3 passengers died.
In 2005, the de-icing gear fell of from the propeller on a Fokker 50 and smashed the window near Row 2A when flying from Taipei to Hengchun. The altitude was at 4000ft where the incident occurred, few minutes after pilot decided to divert the plane to Kaohsiung due to bad weather. No one suffered severe injuries but passengers claims wind and rain were pouring into the aircraft.
Services
Mandarin Airlines operates the following services (at June 2005):
- Domestic scheduled destinations: Hengchun, Hualien, Kaohsiung, Kinmen, Makung, Taichung, Taipei, Taitung.
- International scheduled destinations: Taipei to Cebu, Subic Bay and Yangon. Taichung to Seoul and Kaohsiung to Hong Kong. It also operates Taipei-Kaohsiung for parent company China Airlines as international connection flights.
Fleet
The Mandarin Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft (at June 2005):
- 2 Boeing 737-800
- 4 Dornier 228-212. Transferred to Daily Air of Taiwan
- 6 Fokker F100
- 5 Fokker F50
Boeing 747 and McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft were previously operated.
External Links
- Mandarin Airlines (http://www.mandarin-airlines.com/en/)
- Mandarin Airlines Boeing Fleet Detail (http://www.planemad.net/Airline/TW/Mandarin_Airlines_(AE_MDA)/Fleet.htm?show=all)fr:Mandarin Airlines
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