IRISH long-haul travellers will be pleased to note that Etihad Airways has expanded its routes with the provision of indirect flights from Dublin to Tokyo and Nagoya in Japan from early next year.

More than 30 airline passengers and crew were injured after their jet hit sudden turbulence 20 minutes from landing today.

Taiwan’s China Airlines has signed a contract for the purchase of 14 Airbus A350-900 jets and taken another six on option, the European plane-maker said today.

RYANAIR has begun inspecting 137 aircraft in its fleet after a fire destroyed a China Airlines plane last week.

Boeing and US aviation experts arrived in Japan today to investigate the Taiwanese jet explosion and a suspected fuel leak.

Police and aviation experts began examining the charred shell of a China Airlines jet in southern Japan today, widening an investigation into why the plane exploded in flames just seconds after the 165 people aboard escaped.

A CHINA Airlines jet exploded into flames at an airport in Japan after arriving from Taiwan yesterday, but all 165 people aboard escaped alive, officials said.

The 157 passengers and eight crew members had barely finished sliding down the emergency chutes of the smoking China Airlines jet today when it suddenly exploded, and flames engulfed the centre of the craft.

Taiwan’s Aviation Safety Council said today fatigue cracks probably caused a China Airlines plane to crash in May 2002, killing all 225 people on board.

Chinese planes touched down in Taiwan today, completing the first non-stop flights between the rivals since a bloody civil war split the two sides 56 years ago.

IRISH biometric security specialists Daon plan to take the Japanese market by storm after winning a crucial identity-processing contract from the US Department of Homeland Security.

Typhoon Aere whipped northern Taiwan with gusty winds and heavy rain today, while China began evacuating 249,000 people from coastal areas as it braced for the storm that has killed at least seven people.

Health authorities in Taiwan are urgently trying to track down five foreign passengers on a flight taken by a man later diagnosed with SARS.

An American law firm is suing planemaker Boeing, accusing the company of failing to tell a Taiwanese airline that cracks in one of its planes were improperly repaired before the jumbo jet crashed.

A Taiwanese security official has said that there was no evidence that a terrorist or a missile caused a China Airlines jet to break up over the Taiwan Strait.

A Hong Kong-bound China Airlines jet broke up into four parts in the sky before crashing into the Taiwan Strait with 225 people on board, the chief Taiwanese crash investigator said today.

More than 200 people are feared dead after a plane crashed into the sea off Taiwan.

A China Airlines flight to Hong Kong crashed today in the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan prime minister Yu Shyi-kun said.

A China Airlines flight with 222 people on board has been reported missing for nearly an hour, it was reported today.

More than 160 passengers aboard a Chinese plane were feared dead after the aircraft crashed near one of the World Cup host cities in bad weather early today.

A China Airlines passenger jet dumped its fuel after takeoff and returned to Taiwan for an emergency landing today when one of its engines vibrated strongly.