“The Great Wall of Yao” on TransAsia Airways Flight

Ex-NBA star Yao Ming, with his team – the Shanghai Sharks, flies TransAsia Airways to Taipei for 2012 Straits Cup

Singapore, 2012-10-15 — /travelprnews.com/ — Yao Ming, ex-NBA star and the owner of China Basketball Association (CBA) team Shanghai Sharks, was on-board TransAsia Airways with his team and family flying from Shanghai to Taipei and reached Taoyuan International Airport at 0150 this morning.

Alongside Yao Ming were the Shanghai Sharks team members, including Chinese national players Liu Wei and Zhang Zhao Xu, as well as Taiwanese native Tseng Wen-ting who picked up three Most Valuable Player (MVP) titles for seven years when he played for the Super Basketball League (SBL) in Taiwan.

To welcome the team, TransAsia Airways especially prepared Taiwan Beef Noodle on the menu to showcase the authentic Taiwanese flavour. Yao Ming and his family were arranged to fly Business Class to have a one-of-its-kind fine-ding experience on board. Since this July, TransAsia Airways has implemented several new initiatives to enhance the Business Class experience, which includes the launch of a 3-course menu served course by course in fine high quality ceramic culinary ware.

“We are extremely excited and proud that Yao Ming chose TransAsia Airways to fly to Taiwan,” said Mr  Vincent M. Lin, Chairman of TransAsia Airways, “I am always very impressed by his outstanding skills since his days with Houston, and inspired by the fighting spirit in him, as well as other brilliant athletes like Yao.”

“His choice to fly with TransAsia is encouraging to the team, which reflected that the airline has grown tremendously over the years in terms of its reputation. To date, we have become one of the strongest airlines in cross-straits sky, operating 23 routes to 13 PRC cities.” He added.

Shanghai Sharks will be in Taiwan from October 12th to 14th to play in 2012 Straits Cup against another CBA team, Zhengjiang Lions, and two Super Basketball League (SBL) teams from Taiwan, Dacin Tigers and Pure-Youth Construction. The pre-season tournament comes one month ahead of the 2012/2013 CBA season. TransAsia Airways is the sole airline sponsor for 2012 Straits Cup.

About TransAsia Airways
TransAsia Airways was established in 1951 as the first private airline in Taiwan and has since grown to be one of the nation’s three largest carriers

Operating a modern passenger fleet of 18 aircraft, TransAsia Airways flies to a network of 46 routes – 7  domestic and 39 regional, including China, Japan, Macau, Singapore, South Korea and Vietnam. TransAsia Airways also operates chartered flights to Japan and many other cities in Asia.

The company recorded revenues of NT $8.74 billion for the full year ended 31 st December 2011, with a year-on-year growth rate of 4.62%, a net-profit margin of 7.60% and a cumulative Earnings Per Share (EPS) of NT $1.34, which makes it the best-erformed airline in Taiwan. 29 new aircraft are on order with deliveries scheduled from 2012, onwards.

TransAsia Airways is a publically listed company on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

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