TAIPEI (AFP) - A TransAsia Airways plane crashed into a river outside the capital Taipei Wednesday - the airline's second fatal crash in seven months.
Here are a few facts about the airline: Founded in 1951 to serve domestic destinations, TransAsia Airways has expanded rapidly in the last four years, benefiting from increased revenues from its new China routes that have opened up as relations between Beijing and Taipei have improved.
Since 2011, the airline has launched 26 new routes to China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.
In December 2014, TransAsia launched a low-cost carrier called "V Air". It currently flies to three destinations in Thailand and Cambodia, and plans to add routes to Japan and South Asia by mid 2015.
The company was listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Nov 1, 2011.
TransAsia operates a fleet of Airbus jet airliners and dual-propeller plane manufactured by French and Italian joint-venture ATR.
The airline ordered two wide-body A330-300 aircraft and six single-aisle A321 jets from Airbus in November 2010 at a cost of nearly one billion euros.
In February 2014, the company ordered 12 new ATR72-600's, with the last one scheduled to be delivered by 2018.
Safety record:
- July 23, 2014: A TransAsia flight from Kaohsiung to Magong crashed into two houses near the airport in heavy rain, killing 48 of the 58 people on board. Airline president Chooi Yee-Chong resigned over his handling of the aftermath of the disaster in September.
- March 23, 2003: A TransAsia plane collided with a truck as it landed at Tainan Airport, injuring the two people in the truck.
- Dec 21, 2002: A cargo flight operated by TransAsia en route from Taipei to Macau crashed killing both crew members.
- Jan 30, 1995: All four people on board were killed when an ATR-72 operated by TransAsia crashed 80km to the south of Taipei.
