Mid-2000s and beyond: Global expansion and fleet redevelopment

A Boeing 747-400F and McDonnell Douglas MD-11F in the current Taipei Express livery, first introduced in 2012 during the company's 25th anniversary.

Pictured aircraft: B-18975 (MD-11F) and B-18990 (B747-400F)

By the mid-2000s, TEA had grown to a fleet of 15 aircraft (ten Boeing 747-400Fs and five McDonnell Douglas MD-11Fs) serving a route network of 31 international destinations across Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. The improving of cross-strait diplomatic relations between Taiwan and Mainland China later during this decade would eventually pave the way for direct flights between the two states in 2009, and TEA responded by launching nonstop cargo flights from Taipei to Guangzhou, Shanghai (Pudong), Shenzhen, Tianjin, and Xiamen in 2010. Four ex-Aviaperú MD-11 Combis and two ex-Cathay Pacific Boeing 747-400BCFs would join the fleet in 2010 and 2012, respectively, bringing the airline’s fleet count to 21 aircraft.

In 2016, TEA established a third cargo hub at Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport in the United Arab Emirates.

In 2017, TEA began orders for nine Boeing 777F aircraft to replace its fleet of MD-11Fs, with the first plane delivered at Taoyuan Airport on 25 February 2019. The last MD-11 was removed from service on 12 February 2021, the same day the airline received its final 777F delivery.