TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan’s China Airlines is not facing any political pressure on its decision about whether to buy Boeing or Airbus aircraft for a refreshment of its long-haul fleet, the company’s chairman said on Saturday.
Taiwan’s largest carrier has been weighing Boeing’s 777X and the Airbus A350-1000 as replacements for its fleet of 10 Boeing 777-300ERs, mostly used on U.S. and some high-density regional routes, according to industry sources.
China Airlines Chairman Hsieh Shih-chien told reporters the company was still in the process of evaluating which aircraft to take and, asked if there was any political pressure on the decision, replied “no”.
“When it comes to buying aircraft, it is only China Airlines ourselves who makes the assessment. I want to clarify this,” Hsieh added.
Multibillion-dollar deals for new aircraft often have to take political as well as business considerations into account – especially in the case of Taiwan, given its international situation and pressure it faces to give in to China’s sovereignty claims, which are rejected by the democratically elected government in Taipei.
The United States is Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier despite a lack of formal diplomatic ties, and China Airlines’ majority owner is the Taiwan government.
A senior industry source told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter, that on the China Airlines deal the timing was a complicating factor given November’s U.S. election.
In 2022, shortly after then-U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei – which set off Chinese war games – China Airlines announced a $4.6 billion order for Boeing’s 787 to replace its ageing fleet of Airbus A330s.
China Airlines already operates 15 of the smaller Airbus A350-900s, as well as nine of the freighter version of the 777.
Hsieh said the 787s would start arriving from next year, while a further 11 Airbus A321s, which are replacing its older Boeing 737-800s, would all come before 2026.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by David Holmes)