Formosa Airlines (Chinese: 國華航空; pinyin: Guóhuá Hángkōng) was a Taiwanese regional airline operating an extensive network of domestic routes out of its bases at Taipei Songshan Airport and Kaohsiung International Airport.[1][2] Its headquarters were in Taipei.[3]
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Founded | May 5, 1966 (as Yung Shing Airlines) | ||||||
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Commenced operations | July 1, 1966 | ||||||
Ceased operations | August 8, 1999 (merged into Mandarin Airlines) | ||||||
Operating bases | |||||||
Headquarters | Taipei |
The company was founded on 5 May 1966 as Yung Shing Airlines (Chinese: 永興航空; pinyin: Yǒngxīng Hángkōng),[4] and revenue operations commenced on 1 July.[5] For the first decade of its existence, only crop dusting services were offered, before turning towards passenger flights.[6] With its small fleet of Britten-Norman Islander and Cessna 404s, Yung Shing Airlines served a number of domestic destinations, most notably linking Taitung City with outlying Orchid Island and Green Island.[7] In 1983, the Dornier 228 joined the fleet, which would remain an important part for the airline's operations throughout the years.[8]
On 8 August 1987, the company was renamed Formosa Airlines (reflecting the historic name for Taiwan) and moved its headquarters to Taipei, with the city's Songshan Airport becoming its primary base.[8] In 1988, Formosa Airlines became the first Far Eastern operator of the Saab 340, with a capacity of 37 passengers its by then-largest aircraft type.[9] by 1996, this subfleet had grown to nine planes.[6] Plans for turning the airline into a Hong Kong-registered company in order to be able to transport passengers between Taiwan and China were brought forth in 1989, but did not materialize.[10] Formosa Airlines became a jet aircraft operator in 1995, when two 109-seat Fokker 100s were acquired, along with 5 smaller Fokker 50 turboprop airliners.[11][12]
In July 1996, China Airlines acquired a 41 percent stake in Formosa Airlines and took over the management, aiming at thus improving Formosa's inferior safety record (see below) and developing Kaohsiung International Airport into a domestic hub.[13] When EVA Air, the major competitor of China Airlines, merged its domestic subsidiaries to create Uni Air in 1998, a similar merger was announced for Formosa Airlines and Mandarin Airlines, with the latter name to be kept.[14] On 8 August 1999, the merger was finalized:[8][15] Formosa Airlines with its then 620 employees and a number of short haul aircraft were combined with Mandarin's, with all long haul planes of Mandarin Airlines being handed over to China Airlines.[5][14]
During the 1990s, Formosa Airlines operated scheduled flights to the following domestic destinations:[2]
Location | Airport(s) |
---|---|
Green Island | Lyudao Airport |
Hualien City | Hualien Airport |
Kaohsiung City | Kaohsiung International Airport (secondary base)[1][2] |
Kinmen | Kinmen Airport[6] |
Magong | Magong Airport |
Orchid Island | Lanyu Airport |
Qimei | Qimei Airport |
Taichung | Taichung Airport |
Taipei | Taipei Songshan Airport (primary base) |
Taitung City | Taitung Airport |
Prior to merger:[16]