China Airlines adds fifth weekly London flight: where do they fly and what can you expect?

This article is sponsored by China Airlines

You may remember my trip to Taiwan last Autumn, in partnership with China Airlines, in order to review its flights and lounges.

I highly recommend a trip – Taiwan is one of my favourite countries to visit – and I wrote an article about what you can do in Taipei here. I still hope to explore the southern part of the island at a future date.

China Airlines adds a fifth weekly flight to London

The good news is that the airline is steadily increasing the number of flights it operates to London. Direct flights were originally introduced to Gatwick in 2017 and it moved to Heathrow during covid. Starting from 18th November, China Airlines will add a fifth weekly flight between London Heathrow and Taipei Taoyuan airport.

It means you can now fly non-stop from London to Taipei and beyond on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Long-term, I believe the plan is to move to a daily operation.

Flights operate from Heathrow Terminal 3 and use the excellent Cathay Pacific business class lounge there (review here).

Flight times vary, but London to Taipei on CI82 is typically an overnight flight departing in the evening with a flight time of just over 13 hours. The return is a day flight with a slightly longer time of 15 hours due to the Russia overflight ban.

Typical flight times are:

• CI82 departing Heathrow at 21:15 and landing in Taipei at 18:35 the following day
• CI81 departing Taipei at 08:40 and landing in Heathrow at 16:55 the same day

Timings for the summer schedule vary marginally.

Flights to London operate using the very comfortable Airbus A350-900. Personally this is my favourite aircraft: I find it very quiet, I love the large windows and it benefits from a lower cabin altitude and higher humidity thanks to the carbon fibre construction.

I always feel noticeably better getting off a long flight on an A350 versus older generation aircraft such as the Boeing 777.

In business class you can expect comfortable 1-2-1 lie-flat beds in uniquely designed cabins. Meal service includes both Asian and Western dishes (your choice). You can read my review of China Airlines business class here.

In premium economy you can expect similarly good service, albeit with fixed shell seats rather than lie-flat beds. China Airlines is one of the few airlines to offer this style of premium economy seat and means you can recline whenever you want, without having to worry about the passengers behind you. My review of China Airlines premium economy is here.

Wifi is now free for everyone (messaging only in economy) to keep you entertained during the long flight.

A quick refresher on China Airlines

Despite the name, China Airlines is a Taiwanese airline headquartered in Taipei and part of the SkyTeam airline alliance.

In this case, ‘China’ refers to Taiwan’s official name – the Republic of China. Don’t confuse it with Air China, which operates out of Beijing. You can tell the difference by its recognisable pink plum blossom logo on the tailfin:

The airline was founded in 1959 and is the flag carrier for Taiwan. It is the only airline to operate direct flights between London and Taipei.

Their European network, which also operates non-stop flights, covers Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Prague, Rome and Vienna.

China Airlines operates a long haul fleet of A350-900 and Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, to be joined soon by a fleet of brand new Boeing 787s.

China Airlines is part of the SkyTeam alliance – more on that below. This means, amongst other things, that you can earn and redeem Virgin Points on its flights, enjoy Virgin Flying Club elite status benefits if you have them and earn Virgin Flying Club tier points.

Connections to Australia and New Zealand

From a UK perspective, China Airlines is interesting even if Taiwan is not your final destination as the airline has extensive connections into East Asia. For example, China Airlines flies to 11 Japanese cities.

China Airlines is also a lesser-known option if you are travelling to Australia or New Zealand.

In Australia, it operates services to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne as well as a tag-on connection to Auckland from Brisbane.

One of the benefits of flying China Airlines is that you get a minimum of two 23kg checked bags as standard in all cabins, including economy.

Part of the SkyTeam airline alliance

China Airlines is one of 19 SkyTeam member airlines. Now that Virgin Atlantic is also a member it means you can earn and burn Virgin Points on China Airlines flights, as well as earn tier points. In fact, I did just that last year when I used my Virgin Points to fly from Shanghai to Taipei and back.

China Airlines redemptions are not yet bookable on the Virgin Atlantic website but you can call up Flying Club to inquire about availability and to make your booking. China Airlines redemptions are priced on Virgin Atlantic’s SkyTeam distance-based chart.

Many of China Airlines’ regional connections are flown using widebody aircraft with ‘proper’ business class seats, meaning you can enjoy a fully-flat bed on flights of two to three hours!

Conclusion

Hopefully this article has given you a taste of what China Airlines has to offer. You can keep reading with the reviews from my trip last year:

• China Airlines business class review from London to Taipei
• China Airlines business class lounge review, Taipei Taoyuan airport
• China Airlines premium economy review from Taipei to London

For more information, you can visit the China Airlines website here.