Direct flights from Taipei International Airport, also known as Songshan Airport, to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport are expected to be launched next October, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. The ministry touted the news as proof that ties between Taiwan and Japan remain strong, despite the resignation of Masaki Saito, Japan’s representative to Taiwan, last week.
Representing Taiwan, East Asian Relations Commission Chairman Peng Run-tsu (彭榮次) signed an aviation agreement with Japan’s Interchange Association Chairman Hattori Reiichiro in Taipei yesterday to officially announce a starting date for services of Oct. 1. There will be four direct daily flights between both cities.
Currently, all flights to and from Japan are via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
PHOTO: LU CHUN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
Peng said over the years, Taiwan and Japan have become indispensable trading partners as well as mutual tourist destinations.
Last year, the trade volume between the two countries stood at US$60.4 billion. While a total of 2.48 million Japanese and Taiwanese tourists visited each other’s country. Increasing commercial and cultural exchanges between Taiwan and Japan have prompted the need to augment existing arrangements for direct flights between the two, said Peng, saying relations between the two remain strong and continue to strengthen.
At a separate setting, Roget Hsu (?y), secretary general of the Travel Agent Association, said that the new flight service would bring about growth in two-way traffic of about 7 percent to 8 percent.
The Taipei-Haneda service will be jointly offered by China Airlines (華航), EVA Air (長榮航空), Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airways (ANA).
The new pact also increases the number of passenger and cargo flights to Osaka and Nagoya, which is expected to raise the number of weekly flights to the Kansai region from 28 to 45.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese passengers will be able to catch connecting flights to Europe or North America via Osaka or Nagoya. Likewise, Japanese passengers will be able to take connecting flights via Taoyuan or Kaohsiung to other Asian destinations.
Under the new pact, the carriers can also designate seven different cities to offer connecting services for both passenger flights and cargo flights.
The new pact includes the freedom of air between Taipei and Okinawa. Currently, CAL and JAL offer flights between Taipei and Okinawa based on a long-standing memorandum of understanding.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday expressed optimism about the Taiwan-Japan relationship.
“I am satisfied with the Taiwan-Japan relationship over the last year ... A Japanese newspaper had said that the relationship between Taiwan and Japan will be frozen and that is completely untrue,” Ma said when speaking at the Eastern Asian Economic Cooperation Conference in Taipei.
Japanese Representative Masaki Saito attended the meeting, but did not conspicuously interact with Ma.
Saito tendered his resignation earlier this month for “personal reasons.” However there has been speculation that the move was linked to remarks he made at an academic conference in May that Taiwan’s status was unresolved.
Saito later apologized for his remarks, while Tokyo said that the comments were his alone and did not express the position of the Japanese government.
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