Aviation History
Modern civil aviation in Taiwan developed after 1949, when the Republic of China government relocated to the island, with China Airlines founded in 1959 as the state-linked flag carrier. Taipei's Songshan Airport, originally developed during the Japanese colonial era, served as the main gateway until Chiang Kai-shek International Airport (now Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport) opened in 1979. EVA Air launched in 1989 as Taiwan's first major private carrier, introducing innovations such as a dedicated Premium Economy cabin. China Airlines underwent a serious safety crisis in the 1990s before a well-documented turnaround, and both major carriers later joined global alliances. Taiwan is now a significant hub for trans-Pacific and intra-Asia air traffic.
China Airlines is established on 16 December with two amphibious aircraft, becoming Taiwan's flag carrier.
China Airlines starts Boeing 707 service to San Francisco via Tokyo, its first trans-Pacific jet route.
Chiang Kai-shek International Airport (renamed Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in 2006) opens, becoming Taiwan's principal international gateway.
EVA Air is established as Taiwan's first major privately owned international carrier, beginning service in 1991.
A series of fatal accidents through 2002 prompts major restructuring of China Airlines' training, maintenance and safety systems.
EVA Air launches one of the world's first dedicated Premium Economy cabins, an innovation later widely adopted industry-wide.
China Airlines becomes the first Taiwanese carrier to join a major global airline alliance.
EVA Air becomes a full member of Star Alliance, expanding its global network reach.
China Airlines · EVA Air · UNI Air · Mandarin Airlines · STARLUX Airlines · Tigerair Taiwan
Compiled from public/encyclopedic sources including Wikipedia and airline corporate histories; some early Japanese colonial-era airfield details are less precisely documented.
Aviation Firsts
Taipei Songshan Airport — Taipei (1936): Built 28 March 1936 under Japanese rule as Taihoku/Matsuyama Airfield; still operating today for domestic and limited cross-strait service. No earlier operating Taiwanese airport was found. IATA code TSA is not among our 222 profiled airports (Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, TPE, is profiled but is a later, separate airport). · Wikipedia ↗
China Airlines (1959): Founded 7 September 1959, operations from 16 December 1959. Lineage claims back to China National Aviation Corporation (1929) and Japanese colonial-era carriers serving Taiwan pre-1945 exist but are different corporate entities, not continuous predecessors. The oldest airline still headquartered and operating in Taiwan that could be confirmed. · CI ↗ · Wikipedia ↗
No documented foreign entrant found. Taoyuan International Airport's two IATA-listed ground handlers are Evergreen Airline Services (domestic subsidiary of Taiwan's Evergreen Group/EVA Air) and Taoyuan International Airport Services Co. (TIAS), founded 1979 by China Airlines; ownership is ~94% Taiwanese (China Airlines Group + government), with only a 6% stake held by UPS since 1999 — insufficient to call UPS the market entrant, and UPS is a cargo airline, not an independent ground-handling brand operating there. No evidence found of Swissport, dnata, WFS, Çelebi, SATS, or similar entering Taiwan's ground handling market as an independent foreign operator.
Aviation Museums1
Fleet by Operator
Passengers by Operator
Annual Passenger Traffic by Airport
Airlines8
Live Air Traffic6 aircraft
Source: adsb.lol — community ADS-B network. Busiest of this country’s top 6 profiled airports by traffic right now, not a full national count.