China Airlines

China Airlines is Taiwan's flag carrier and largest airline, a SkyTeam member based at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. It flies Airbus A350s and A321neos alongside Boeing 777s across Asia, to North America and to Europe, and runs one of the world's larger dedicated freighter fleets — cargo is a core part of the business rather than a sideline. Despite the name, it is a Taiwanese carrier and unrelated to Air China.

Flying for China Airlines

China Airlines is one of the few flag carriers still fully funding ab-initio training. Cadets apply directly to the airline with no flying experience, are screened before they ever reach a training provider, and are then sent to a partner flight school overseas at the company's expense for 10 to 12 months of basic flight training to a commercial licence with multi-engine and instrument ratings. Back in Taiwan they complete around 12 months of civil aviation pre-training and type training, qualifying as a co-pilot after roughly two years. The airline recruits openly at Taiwan's national universities, and Taiwanese applicants need a TOEIC score above 650 with at least 300 on listening, plus speaking and writing score cards.

Because the airline carries the whole cost of training, its screening is front-loaded and highly competitive: aptitude and psychometric testing, English assessment, interviews and a class 1 medical stand between an applicant and a funded seat. The aptitude stage is where a self-funded candidate elsewhere would instead be spending money, and it is worth treating with the same seriousness.