Mr. Philip Wei, President of China Airlines, spoke at the Anniversary
ceremony: “Due to the threat of SARS, the operation of China Airlines met unprecedented crisis. Thanks to the cooperation of our coworkers, the company was able to maintain its schedules, and adopt effective cost controls. China Airlines returned from deficit to profit. Revenue between January and November reached NT$ 68.2 billion, and pre-tax profit reached NT$ 1.4 billion.”

Mr. Yun-ling Lee, Chairman of China Airlines, mentioned the Service Excellence Award that the carrier recently earned. He emphasized that the carrier will dedicate itself to improving its corporate cultures, by emphasizing the cultures of safety and quality, discipline and cooperation, innovation and service, knowledge and learning, risk and crisis, and execution.

Fleet simplification and network expansion continued to be CAL’s major strategy in 2003. So far this year, China Airlines has introduced three B747-400 freighters, two A340-300s and one B737-800 passenger jet, and phased out one B747-200 freighter. The average age of its fleet is now just 5.6 years, one of the youngest in the world.

Year 2003 also marked a fruitful year for CAL’s network expansion. In its passenger network, China Airlines inaugurated Hanoi and Brisbane regular services, and a Seoul charter service, and resumed its Honolulu direct service. China Airlines also launched code-share cooperations with Delta Air Lines, Alitalia and Thai Airways International. In its cargo network, the carrier inaugurated a Ho Chi Minh service, and resumed Manchester and Delhi services. On the service side, China Airlines inaugurated its top-notch Paragon membership and its Customer Service Call Center, introduced Shin-yeh Taiwanese cuisine on Japan-bound flights, and innovated e-service on its corporate website.

Due to the continuous efforts, ROC President Chen Shui-bian, First Lady Wu Shu-chen and Vice President Lu Hsiu-lien all chose China Airlines for their oversea trips. China Airlines was also honored to ship Taiwan’s second satellite, ROC-SAT2, to the US. In addition to winning a Service Excellence Award, in a survey done by airline research company Skytrax, CAL’s in-flight service was ranked 4th in the world, and its business-class service 3rd in the world.

In the future, China Airlines will continue to emphasize fleet simplification, cost control and service enhancement. The carrier also introduced a rigid quality control system to flight operations, maintenance, system operations control, security and safety. The new generation Airbus A330 passenger aircraft will be introduced in 2004, to replace the existing Airbus A300-600R. Based on the current favorable international economic climate, China Airlines expects operations to reach a new high next year.