PHOTOS BY: JOE COBILLA JR.
LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA-The Philippine tourism industry is expected to get a boost from the recent milestone interline partnership between Taiwan’s flag carrier China Airlines (CAL) and US’ fourth largest airline operator Southwest Airlines.
During the official launch of the CAL and Southwest Airlines partnership last August 18 at Edison Theater in Long Beach, California, Philippine Department of Tourism (PDOT) tourism attache for Los Angeles Gerardo “Gerry” Panga told the Asian Journal that the partnership between these two giant carriers is a welcome development for our country’s tourism industry as more travellers from the United States, including thousands of our kababayans, will have another option on how to more conveniently travel between these two countries.
“This is a very good development because we target 1.2 million travellers from the US to the Philippines, only 1/3 or 1/4 of that is coming from connections from Taipeh so the more we expand access, the more it will give opportunities for our kababayans.. more affordable tickets and better flight connection schedules,” he said. “It offers a flight from Phoenix to Taipei with convenient connections via Manila and Cebu. This is very important for us as you know we are very close to Taipei only 2 hours away and we provide the best connection from the US mainland to Taipei to Cebu and Manila.”
Recent data showed that the Philippines is the top generating country visitor arrivals from the US in Southeast Asia. As of June 2025, the top 3 Southeast Asian destinations are the Philippines (609,766), Thailand (551,505) and Vietnam (449,132).
Southwest Airlines Managing Director of Network Capacity, Strategy, and Alliances Steven Swan, for his part, told the Asian Journal that they believe the Filipino community will be thrilled with what this partnership with CAL and Southwest has to offer.
“I think that this helps with the Filipino community being able to go back home to the Philippines. Many Filipinos are members of our frequent flyers program and I know that they want to be using their points to be able to go home and that would be something that we would want to talk with China Airlines this week in Dallas. It’s about making sure that people could use their frequent flyer points with our program or their miles with China Airlines’ flyers’ program,” Swan said.
Proud to be Southwest Airlines’ first Asian partner, CAL president Kevin Chen, on the other hand, said “We would like to welcome the Filipino community here to take advantage of this new service of China Airlines and Southwest Airlines. Welcome aboard.”
Jeff Chang, CAL marketing director-The Americas, for his part, said “Philippine market is very important to us. A lot of Filipinos love to travel. Even in our new destination, in Phoenix, we believe Philippine market is significant and very important. We will give our best service (to the Filipinos).”
The interline partnership between CAL and Southwest will allow travelers to purchase a single ticket covering flights from Taiwan to US destinations served by Southwest’s network. Southwest has the highest number of domestic passengers with more than 4,000 flights daily.
Under the partnership, starting August 20, for travel on or after January 19, 2026, travelers can purchase combined itineraries with both China Airlines and Southwest on a single ticket directly through China Airlines’ website for a smoother, more convenient connection experience.
According to Southwest website, its first trans-Pacific airline partnership will leverage on its extensive domestic network and CAL’s trans-Pacific routes, particularly through gateway cities on the West Coast, like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Ontario, and Seattle. Recently, CAL announced that it also added Phoenix to its itinerary and expected to fly three times weekly to this destination starting Dec. 3, 2025.
Panga, meanwhile, said PDOT is also working closely with CAL on its ongoing online campaign dubbed as “Asia Fav Five” (AFF) featuring partner National Tourism Organizations (NTOs) from Taiwan, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.
The AFF campaign will allow travelers from NTO partner-countries to avail of an exclusive and a limited-time savings/discounts on tickets (must book for two or more passengers under the same reservation) on travel dates starting now to Nov.30, 2025 to Feb. 13 2026; and Feb. 23 to May 15, 2026. Based on the sample computation of the AFF discount, the economy ticket from San Francisco to Taipei will be $729 per person compared to regular price of $848.
According to Panga, Taipei, Taiwan is an important hub which generated 6.25 million transit passengers in 2023 (37.9% from North America).
The DOT official also noted that many travelers from the US and Canada to the Philippines connect through Taipei via China Airlines, Eva Air and Starlux Airlines, with convenient connections to Manila, Clark and Cebu.
Taiwan Tourism Administration director of Los Angeles Office Vivian Lin, meanwhile, said transit passengers with layovers of 7 to 24 hours can avail of the free half-day tour being offered by the Taiwan government. These tours are available for passengers holding valid R.O.C. visas or those from visa-exempt countries.
Passengers will need to register online five days prior to arrival and can choose between guided bus tours or self-guided bus tours with suggested itineraries and MRT vouchers.
