Despite its relatively small size, Taiwan is a key player in the world of modern Asian aviation, and is home to major carriers such as EVA Air and Starlux Airlines. The country’s flag carrier is China Airlines, which operates out of its hub at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport (TPE). The carrier, which is 64 years old and became a full member of the SkyTeam alliance in September 2011, has 82 aircraft in its fleet.
Of this figure, as per current fleet data from ch-aviation, exactly half of these (41 aircraft) are widebody passenger twinjets from the Airbus A330, Airbus A350, and Boeing 777 families. China Airlines
deploys these twin-aisle planes on an interesting range of routes, and, while they share similar cabin configuration concepts, the exact ins and outs of each layout, as we shall now see, differ somewhat.
Two configurations for the Airbus A350
China Airlines’ youngest widebodies are its 15 examples of the A350-900. All of these are presently listed by ch-aviation as being active, and they have an average age of just 7.2 years old, compared to a fleet-wide mean figure of 9.5 years. The Taiwanese flag carrier and 
SkyTeam
member configures these aircraft in a three-class setup, with 14 of the 15 aircraft having the exact same layout onboard.
According to aeroLOPA, the configuration has space for 306 passengers, with 243 of these being accommodated in economy class. This cabin accounts for approximately 79.4% of the aircraft’s total passenger capacity, and the seats are laid out, as is standard for the Airbus A350, in a nine-abreast 3-3-3 configuration. According to China Airlines, the seats are 18 inches wide and have 31-32 inches of pitch.
Meanwhile, the remaining capacity onboard these aircraft is split almost evenly between their premium economy and business class sections. The former of these cabins features 31 reclining seats in a seven-abreast 2-3-2 configuration, offering 39 inches of pitch. Meanwhile, the space between the jet’s first and second doors is occupied by 32 business class flatbeds in a four-abreast 1-2-1 setup.
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The only exception to this rule among China Airlines Airbus A350s is B-18919, a five-year-old aircraft that the carrier received from Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) around a year ago. This plane has exactly 300 seats onboard (split between 40 business class flatbeds, 32 premium economy recliners, and 228 economy seats), and is used on China Airlines’ routes to and from Rome and Singapore.
A pair of A330 layouts
By one aircraft, the Airbus
A330-300 is the most numerous widebody in China Airlines’ current fleet, with 16 examples present. These twinjets are 17.2 years old on average, and, historically speaking, the Taiwanese flag carrier has flown another 10 units of the type. At the time of writing, 13 of the current contingent were listed as being active, with the remaining three undergoing maintenance.
Photo: TimeDepot.Twn | Shutterstock
Much like their A350 counterparts, China Airlines’ Airbus A330-300s have two different seating configurations. Contrastingly, however, this pair of layouts have little in the way of differences between them, and are spread more evenly among this particular subfleet. Nine of the 16 have a two-class configuration featuring 307 seats onboard, while the remaining seven have 313 seats in two classes.
The most numerous and slightly less capacious of these layouts, with 307 seats onboard, features 30 business class seats described by Live & Let’s Fly as ‘angled lie-flat,’ and 277 economy seats. Business class, which is situated between the plane’s first and second doors, is laid out in five six-abreast (2-2-2) rows, while economy is in a 2-4-2 layout apart from the last rows as the jet narrows to 2-3-2.
Photo: Hsu-Yu Cheng | Shutterstock
The other layout used, with 313 seats on seven aircraft, is almost identical, but has an extra row of business class to account for the additional six seats onboard. However, the 36 seats are located in the same section as the 30 in the other layout, meaning that the seat pitch is reduced to accommodate the extra row. When all is said and done, this comes to 52 inches, compared to 62-63 on the other layout.
All the same on the triple-seven
China Airlines’ remaining 10 widebody aircraft are examples of the 
Boeing
777-300ER twinjet, with these planes (which are all currently listed as being active) clocking in at an average age of 9.6 years old. These are also its largest aircraft by seating capacity, with the triple-seven’s three-class layout able to accommodate a total of 358 passengers onboard in a relatively premium-heavy manner.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
This layout is present on all of China Airlines’ Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. The configuration features a 40-seat business class cabin that is large enough to span not just the space between the first and second doors (six rows), but also four rows immediately behind the second door. These flatbeds are laid out four abreast in a 1-2-1 configuration like on the A350, with direct aisle access at every seat.
Photo: Wangkun Jia | Shutterstock
Meanwhile, 62 recliners make up the aircraft’s premium economy section, accounting for an impressive 17.3% of its overall passenger capacity. These seats are laid out eight abreast in a 2-4-2 layout, with 19 inches of width and a generous seat pitch of 39 inches. As for the 256 economy class seats, these offer 31-32 inches of pitch and are configured in a higher-density 3-4-3 setup with 10 seats per row.