Giving back to society

The airline industry is not just about money; it’s a social responsibility – moving merchandise and people around the world to increase the living standard of human beings,” thus declared Christine Tsung, president and CEO of China Airlines (CAL), in an interview earlier this year with Airline Business, an international monthly periodical for top executives in the commercial aviation industry.

Christine was recently in Manila on a business visit that included a review of CAL’s Philippine operations, courtesy calls on Philippine Airlines president Avelino Zapanta, Sec. Pantaleon Alvarez of the Department of Transportation as chair of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), and Benjamin Lo, Taiwan representative in the Philippines and head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Manila.

The only female airline chief executive in Asia, Christine went about the various offices in Manila in effort to mend and enhance economic ties between her country and the Philippines. Of special interest to her was to fortify relations with PAL and the CAB with the goal of ensuring air service between Taipei and Manila.

“The Philippines has so much to offer. Many in Taiwan want to visit your beaches and ecotourism sites. You have marvelous tourist attractions. Your seafood is plenty and fabulous,” she told a press conference held at the CAL VIP lounge of the NAIA prior to her flight back to Taipei last Nov. 25.

Named the 10th of the 50 most powerful women in business in the world (the Power Fifty) by Fortune magazine in the US this year, Christine graduated from the Department of Business