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Old 31st March 2012, 11:43 AM
Michael Cleary Michael Cleary is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Sydney and Taipei
Posts: 196
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I have flown on both CI and BR, though the current trip was the first with BR.

BR have a clean safety record, whilst CI have now been fatality free for 10 years. Given the focus by the EU on safety, I work on the criteria that if the EU lets an Airline in, then it should be OK. I have no issue flying on either and my next trip back to AU in May will be on CI. The trip to/from the Airport is a far greater risk these days. Bear in mind that EATC (The Maintenance arm of EVA) were the ones who modified the four 744's that emerged as the 747 Dreamlifter. CI have recently joined Skyteam, whilst BR are apparently to join Star. Both have large Cargo fleets.

BR seem to be a little higher in price than CI, though over the last 3 years, on average, CX have come out cheaper to/from AU. That said, my last trip to/from AU was on SQ, who just happened to be cheaper when I purchased the ticket (just after Chinese new Year too). I guess if you are in a hurry, then its BR or CI (the only 2 who fly direct, BR just from BNE), but if not, then for a few hours extra (and less spend), use CX. SQ have made it hard to do a trip from SYD-TPE without spending at least 8 hours in SIN on the way to TPE - their Booking site (which still seems to have its problems) has all sorts of nasty tricks (in my view) to prevent you making the connection.

My tickets these days mostly originate in Taiwan. I get one with a year validity from AU, then all trips inside that year start and end in Taiwan. Service wise, both are on par with CX, though all 3 are short of SQ.


Just as an aside, somewhere in the last year, the runways at Taoyuan have been renumbered to 05L/23R and 05R/23L.
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