Well, I'm still not going to complain about another airline in SkyTeam. Just because I will likely never fly them, you never know when you might need them.

When KE joined the alliance DL and other Skyteam airlines assisted with training programs, pilots, and other personnel to review their programs and overhaul their operations. Int heir case it dramatically improved their safety record.

EK is on par with these, IMO.

That's just in response to your question, but I agree that CI's alleged entry into ST is a good thing. Just because they (or any airline) are a ST member doesn't obligate one to fly them if they believe they are still unsafe.

EK is on par with these, IMO.

That's just in response to your question, but I agree that CI's alleged entry into ST is a good thing. Just because they (or any airline) are a ST member doesn't obligate one to fly them if they believe they are still unsafe.

Their safety record for the past decade or so is really NOT bad... the 747-200 accident was really a structural failure of the aircraft and was an aircraft that had only one month remaining in the CI fleet. The only other incident was the B737-800 fire on the ramp in Okinawa last summer, again due to an aircarft design problem and no fault of the airline.

In the 80s and 90s, there were accidents related to poor cockpit resource management, controlled flight into terrain etc.

dupe.

I flew them on a short hop in Y a few weeks ago and I thought their service was fine. Nice clean plane. Seemingly pretty new, too. They gave me exit row on the ground without my even asking. And the ground staff pre-departure were most helpful and friendly in helping me recover from IROPS that were the fault of other airlines.

I'm glad to have CI as a MQM earning opp'y.

China Airlines to Join SkyTeam
 

signing ceremony set for Tuesday 14 September. This is the Taiwanese carrier, not to be confused with airlines based in Red China.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-...11-700061.html

Great!

Now all that SkyTeam is missing is Malaysian Airlines. With MH as a full/official member also, that'd be a pretty complete network in Asia.

...though V Australia would be nice also as a full ST member, to close the big gaping hole in ST coverage that is known as Australia.

Well, except for those daily flights to SYD. ;)

Maybe a better name for PRC these days is Green China. They seem to have most of our Dollars(Green backs)/debt.

I read somewhere that the Chinese airlines don't release safety statistics.

Wow, that took all of two seconds to disprove via Google!

http://aviation-safety.net/database/...untry.php?id=B

Less than that. 1.026ms to disprove via my brain. The FAA would never allow any airline to travel to the US without knowing their safety practices.

China Airlines
 

What great news. I have used them a few times in economy from LAX to TPE and KUL and think the service, food, and AVODs are first-rate.