Photo provided by Indonesian Economic and Trade Office to Taipei

The Eye on Taiwan news staff

Taiwan’s major carrier China Airlines will launch a new route to Jakarta from the southern city of Kaohsiung via Hong Kong beginning July 1 as part of its effort to expand its services to travelers in the southern part of the island.

Promotional fares with economy class return airfares starting from TW$9,500 before taxes and business class starting from TW$21,000 before taxes will be offered to celebrate the launch of the new route which provides daily services flown by Beijing B737-800 aircraft, CAL said in a press release.

Indonesia is a populous nation that has close economic and trade ties with Taiwan.

Current Indonesian destinations include Jakarta, Surabaya, and Bali with a total of 28 weekly services, giving China Airlines the lion’s share of the market. China Airlines is optimistic on the outlook of the Indonesian market, it said.

CAL has operated direct flights between Taipei and Jakarta using the new A350 aircraft since December 2017. Code-sharing with fellow SkyTeam carrier Garuda Indonesia to provide connecting services to Yogyakarta, Semarang, Bandar Lampung, Pontianak, Medan, Balikpapan, Pekanbaru, Makassar and other Indonesian cities, it said.

A new Bali to Perth (Australia) code-share service was introduced in May 2018, to provide greater network coverage, it said.

China Airlines is continuing to develop the market for Taiwanese business people and tourists from both counties. The market for Indonesian travelers transiting through Taiwan on their way to Europe and to North America is being targeted to boost returns from transits, the airlines said.

Civil Aeronautics Administration statistics showed that the Southeast Asia market grew by 12.4% and 9% in terms of volume and capacity in the first four months of 2018.

The 2018 market forecast issued by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in June increased the capacity and volume for the Asia-Pacific market even further as well, an indication of even more development potential in the Southeast Asia air travel market.

At the moment, China Airlines flies to 15 Southeast Asia destinations. Service frequency was progressively increased for the Taipei-Bangkok, Kaohsiung-Bangkok, and Taipei-Penang routes this year in support of the New Southward Policy, according to CAL.

The addition of the new Kaohsiung-Hong Kong-Jakarta service in July will bring the total number of flights to Southeast Asia to 167 services a week, it noted.