Taiwan-based China Airlines (CAL) made its maiden flight on its new route between Taoyuan and Chiang Mai on Friday, bringing its total round-trip flights between Taiwan and Thailand to 27 per week.

CAL flight CI851 took off from Taoyuan International Airport at 8:32 a.m. and arrived at the gate at Chiang Mai International Airport at 11:18 a.m. Thai time, according to the website Flight Aware.

The corresponding return flight, CI852, then took off from Chiang Mai at 12:46 p.m. Thai time and arrived at the gate at the Taoyuan airport at 4:55 p.m.

The airline had originally planned to launch the route in June 2020 and then again in October 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced it to delay its plans until Friday.

CAL said in a press release that it will fly the route using its recently delivered fleet of 180-seat Airbus A321neos and will make the 4-hour flight between the two destinations every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

The flights will be scheduled to depart from Taoyuan International Airport at 8:05 a.m., while the returning flights will leave Chiang Mai International Airport at 12:15 p.m. (local time), the carrier said.

The new route will give CAL passengers more choices to the Southeast Asian country, in addition to CAL’s 18 weekly flights between Taoyuan and Bangkok and five weekly flights on the Kaohsiung-Bangkok route, according to the airline.

The Taoyuan-Chiang Mai route is also targeting the market for North American and European travelers transiting through Taiwan on the way to Thailand, CAL said.

The airline, which recently also launched flights to Cebu in the Philippines and Da Nang in Vietnam, said it hoped to further explore the Southeast Asia passenger market.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel