Historical background of the country for context. Thoroughly researched history of China Airlines. Includes complete fleet list and incidents and accidents list. Part of the Airlines Series. The history of China Airlines as flag carrier of the Republic of China (Taiwan) goes back to the development of aviation on mainland China. At the end of the second Kuomintang/Communist civil war in 1949, the government of the Republic of China retreated to Taiwan. In the beginning, the CIA took care of air transport in Taiwan, but, in 1959, the government decided to set up its own airline: China Airlines. Soon afterwards, China Airlines started up its first flights using two PBY-5B amphibious aircraft. In October 1962, the first regular domestic passenger flight took off from Taipei to Hualien, and during the Vietnam War, China Airlines assisted the American forces by carrying out flights for replenishment and evacuation of US military. In the seventies, the airline was transformed from a mainly military into a mainly civil airline, and, upon the arrival of Boeing 707s, China Airlines launched its first intercontinental route from Taipei to San Francisco via Tokyo. In the early nineties, the airline continued to expand its fleet by buying Boeing 747-400s, Boeing 737-800s and Airbus A300-600Rs. In 2011, the government opened up private equity investment, and EADS (Airbus' parent company) obtained a ten per cent stake in the Chinese carrier. Fully illustrated with over 140 images, this book tells the fascinating story of China's national carrier from its earliest years to the present day. AUTHOR: Jozef Mols was born in Antwerp on 28 May 1951. He studied applied economics with emphasis on marketing, consular sciences and economics of Third World Countries. At the end of his studies, he organized an expedition with 26 co-students (economics of the Third World Countries) to Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan. Subsequently, he lived in the Persian Gulf as an analyst and visited Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Saudi-Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman on assignment. Afterwards, he continued the same work but based in Paris and, subsequently, Rome. In 1987, he returned to Belgium to start teaching at several institutes for higher education. Upon this return in Belgium in 1997, he continued to teach. In 2002, he retired from education and started a full-time career as a writer and speaker. Jozef has had been writing magazine articles for over 40 years and has been published in numerous travel, lifestyle and aviation magazines, including Pilot Club, Airliner World, Airports of the World, Aviation News, Piloot en Vliegtuig and Ambassadeurs.
