Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) announced today it has received U.S. Department of Transportation approval to codeshare between the United States to Taiwan with China Airlines. The start-up date will be June 1, 2002.

Delta and China Airlines last year signed a marketing agreement that gives Delta the opportunity to sell seats under the Delta code on China Airlines’ daily flights from Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York (JFK) to Taipei, Taiwan. China Airlines will sell seats under the China Airlines code on Delta flights from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Atlanta, Dallas/Ft Worth, Salt Lake City, Tampa, Fla., and Cincinnati.

The airlines said the agreement will promote mutual communication and cooperation and will lead to cooperation in the areas of interlining of passengers; enhancement of computer reservations systems; sharing of facilities and passenger handling in jointly served cities; and mutual participation in each airline`s frequent flyer program.

Delta initially will sell seats only on China Airlines flights from the United States to Taipei and, in the future, plans to expand the cooperation to include destinations beyond the China Airlines’ hub to destinations in Taiwan. China Airlines initially will sell seats only on Delta flights from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Atlanta, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Salt Lake City, Tampa and Cincinnati. Future plans call for discussions concerning expanding flights to additional U.S. cities.

China Airlines, founded in 1959, provides service from Taipei to 50 cities in 21 countries with a fleet of 56 Boeing, McDonnell Douglas and Airbus aircraft. More than 8.2 million passengers fly each year on China Airlines. The carrier has more than 9,200 employees worldwide.

Delta Air Lines, the world’s second largest carrier in terms of passengers carried and the leading U.S. airline across the Atlantic, offers 5,581 flights each day to 410 destinations in 72 countries on Delta, Delta Express, Delta Shuttle, Delta Connection and Delta’s worldwide partners. Delta is a founding member of SkyTeam, a global airline alliance that provides customers with extensive worldwide destinations, flights and services. For more information, please go to delta.com.

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