Review of Air China flight from Shanghai to Taipei City in Business

Routing

Airport and Check-In

After a morning stroll through Qibao, it was time to head to the airport.

I booked a ride and was arriving at Hongqiao T1 at 9:15.

There is only one entrance open to the small terminal due to the required bag screening found at airports in China.

I haven't been to SHA in ~1 year and it's good to see that the stores airside are finally re-opened after the pandemic.

The entire operations from SHA T1 today. There were 4 options to get to TSA, but only CA's flight time fit my needs.

CA's check-in counters are in the A zone so we will walk past the NH and MU counters.

The CA counters don't open until 09:45, 2.5 hours before departure so a queue had formed. I had to wait 5-10 minutes to be helped and quickly was checked in after confirming I had an exit ticket from Taiwan. A lounge invitation was provided along with instructions on accessing the lounge before being sent on my way.

SHA is significantly less chaotic than PVG for international departures primarily serving key regional business routes (GMP/HND/TSA/HKG) and it was <3 minutes to clear both immigration and security screening with most of that time being spent doing the mandatory thorough pat down despite not setting off the metal detector.

Airside, I head straight up to the 4th floor where all of the lounges are located.

Air China Premium Lounge

Entering the lounge, I was welcomed and informed there were no boarding announcements. This lounge is huge relative to the small number of flights this terminal handles and the food offering is much better than PVG's CA lounge. I extensively reviewed the lounge here during my last SHA-TSA flight on BR. As during my last visit, I had the run of the place for ~20 minutes before other passengers started showing up.

The large dining area.

The buffet area is very well stocked with hot and cold options.

There is a noodle bar in the back, where I put in an order.

There are several sections of seating with different chair types.

Cold drinks offering.

You can pick between 3 different water bottle brands to suit your taste.

My liquid offering.

My noodles were soon ready, but don't think they are as good as MU's.

Boarding

About 15 minutes before boarding was due to start, I headed down to the gate to see our plane and wander around.

Our plane today would be B-6523, a 14-year old A330-300 with a C36 Y275 configuration. CA has a lot of different A330 configurations, but this one with C36 means it will have angle-flat regional product.

CA is the only mainland carrier with the Chinese flag in its livery, but this one is one of the few in CA's fleet that have the flag removed in order to be able to be used on routes into Taiwan.

Boarding came and passed with no announcements. At 11:50, I saw the pilots heading into the plane which meant it would be at least another 10 minutes until boarding started so I just did a quick loop of the terminal to see what else was around.

9C A320 in Bosideng special livery.

MF B738.

At 12:05, boarding started up with pre-boarding followed by business class.

Down the jet bridge we go.

Entering, I was greeted by two male FAs in the galley who guided me through the galley and up the aisle to my seat. 

The regional business product is definitely vintage, but the 2-2-2 configuration is more than adequate for a short 90 minute flight.

Since the FA was at my row, here is the seat in front of mine. Pre-placed on the seat were pillow and packaged blanket. Water bottles were placed on the center console.

In-flight Amenities

A look down the row shows how open the cabin is.

As soon as I sat down, the FA asked if I wanted slippers and she unpackaged them and laid them at my feet.

The regional pillow is decent, but the blanket is a standard cotton throw.

Seat pitch is more than sufficient and aisle access would not be a problem with a seat mate.

The screens are small and low resolution. I just set mine to the map and used their streaming content for entertainment.

The literature offering.

Instructions for CA's streaming services.

CA still offers an in-flight magazine.

The seats have fully adjustable headrests and these flip out reading lights. There is also a privacy divider that can be swung down between the seats, but I did not have a seat mate so left it closed.

On the side of the seat is the vintage IFE remote, which is needed since the screen is not touch screen.

Water bottles were pre-placed on top of the center armrest.

Under is located the headphones, tray table, and one of two seat controls.

The other seat control is located here along with the distributed hot towel.

The other arm rest can be lowered for extra width when sleeping.

PDBs were then offered by tray.

I will be adventurous and go for the mystery champagne.

A NH B787-10 arrived next door from HND.

The FA came down taking meal orders. The flight is advertised as a snack (versus a meal), so I expected it to be similar to what I saw on my ICN-TSN flight with just a small dish and sides since this flight is blocked at 2 hours or less, which severely limits the crew's time in the cabin per CAAC regulations. I accidentally deleted the non-translated photo, but here is the English translated version. The FA said it was a chicken/noodle dish or a selection of small Chinese bites. I went with the latter and requested a pu'er tea with the meal.

Boarding was done really fast and the doors were closed by 12:24. The cabin was ~90% full.

The safety video played as we pushed back.

Taxi and Departure from SHA

NX A321 arriving as we taxi out. The windows had an oily film on them so all photos will be greasy looking.

SHA T2 with MU and CA dominating operations.

We cut in front of this MU A330.

Aligning onto 36L

We hold to let this MU B77W land before taking off at 12:46, almost 30 minutes late.

Goodbye Shanghai.

We bank to the left as we head out towards Taihu before turning to head south.

In-flight Service

As soon as released, the crew started by laying the linens and distributing another hot towel.

A package of nuts and dried fruits was offered, but no drinks.

My meal tray was provided soon after along with my cup of pu'er tea.

True to the FA's description, the meal consisted of a random sampling of small items. They were edible and fine, nothing memorable.

The fruit cup was fresh and hard to mess up in Asia.

The dessert was good, but I didn't eat the sugary decoration on top despite cutely celebrating May 1.

Entertainment

The IFE interface is clunky and slow so I just set it to the map and left it at that.

CA offers streaming content and that is much more practical to use. The selection is good with a large set of British content.

The lavatory near 2R was clean, but sparse other than some CA branded amenities.

Landing in Taipei

The cabin mid-flight.

As trays were cleared, the FAs quickly replaced my empty water bottle without being asked.

We made landfall south of Keelung approaching from the east. 

Keelung with its harbor.

We slowly descend below the mountains.

We align with the 1 as we bomb into Songshan crossing the Keelung River.

We touch down on Runway 28 at 14:19, just a couple of minutes late.

The airport is very urban with plenty of apartment buildings right off the taxiways.

The first glimpse of 101.

It is clear who runs the show in TSA with a sea of BR A321s awaiting domestic missions.

Welcome to Songshan.

We take our slot at the far end of the international side of the airport.

BR B787-10 getting ready to leave for SHA.

The jet bridge engages quickly and we are out of 1L heading into the terminal.

A sight to bring tears to Marathon's eyes with a pair of FE MD-80s rotting away.

We had a decent walk back across the terminal.

Welcome to Taipei.

Immigration was fast with just a confirmation of my departure flight information. By the time I got down, the bags were already circulating highlighting the efficiency of TSA.

With bag in hand, I head out into the city. Thanks for stopping by!

Flight Information

Air China, CA197
Equipment: Airbus A330-300 [B-6523, delivered January 2011]
Departure: 12:15 (ATD: 12:46)
Arrival: 14:15 (ATA: 14:19)
Flight time: 1:34