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Mandarin Airlines () is an airline based in Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan). The Taiwanese carrier operates domestic and regional international flights, while its parent company focusses on the inter-national/-continental operations. Charter services are also operated by the company. Its other main hub is the Taichung Airport. ==History== Mandarin Airlines was established on 1 June 1991, and was initially a joint venture by China Airlines (67%) and CTBC Holding (33%); the Chinese name of the company is formed by the combination of the two.〔"(About Us )." ''Mandarin Airlines''. Retrieved on March 7, 2010.〕 The establishment of Mandarin Airlines is closely related to the political status of Taiwan. At the time, Mandarin Airlines' parent company, China Airlines, still served as the flag carrier of the Republic of China, with the flag of the Republic of China a part of its livery. Denying the existence of the Taipei government, the People's Republic of China hence attempted to boycott the international presence of China Airlines, using trade barriers to achieve its political goal. However, PRC's objection did not extend to other Taiwanese carriers not carrying the ROC flag. As a way to work around these limits, Mandarin Airlines was founded while China Airlines maintained its role as the flag carrier. On 16 October 1991, Mandarin Airlines started operations with direct flights from Taipei to Sydney in Australia. The next step was the opening of a direct air route to Vancouver in Canada on 7 December 1991. Thus, Mandarin Airlines became the ROC's first airline to fly direct to Australia and Canada. The China Trust Group pulled its investment in Mandarin Airlines on 31 October 1992, turning the airline into a company virtually wholly owned by China Airlines (90.05%) by December 1992. Also, Mandarin Airlines' role was changed to that of a primary domestic and short-range intra-regional airline,〔 after parent China Airlines was able to re-establish its emphasis on international routes, due to a new livery that did not include the national flag, and thus faced less objection from the PRC. On 8 August 1999, China Airlines formally merged its subsidiary, Mandarin Airlines, with Formosa Airlines under the Mandarin name. Mandarin took over Formosa's domestic operations and aircraft while Mandarin's fleet and most of its international flights were transferred to China Airlines.〔 In early 2000, the airline bought 5 Dornier 228 from Uni Air to fly outlying routes. These planes were sold to Daily Air in 2005, a helicopter carrier in Taiwan which had won the bid to fly these money-losing routes. Mandarin Airlines is owned by China Airlines (93.99%) and has 630 employees (as of March 2007). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mandarin Airlines」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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