Taiwanese and Chinese airlines have applied to open additional direct flights across the Taiwan Strait, but none of them are expected to begin before the middle of next month, Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) officials said.
Taiwan and China agreed in May to allow airlines from both sides to offer 50 more direct cross-strait flights per week and carriers from each side began 14 weekly flights between Taipei’s Songshan Airport and Shanghai’s Hongqiao Airport on June 14.
The remaining quota has so far not been used because of disputes about flight destinations and the inconvenient scheduling given to local carriers by China’s civil aviation authorities.
After the disputes were resolved in a new round of talks held early this month, however, the Taiwanese carriers came up with new applications last week, CAA officials said.
The planned extra flights include four to Beijing, four to Shenzhen, 15 to Fuzhou and Xiamen, two to Qingdao, two to Guangzhou and one to Changsha from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport; three to Fuzhou from Taichung Airport; two to Fuzhou, one to Xiamen and one to Guangzhou from Kaohsiung Airport; and one to Guangzhou from Songshan.
A CAA official said China’s General Administration of Civil Aviation has already referred the Taiwanese carriers’ flight plans to its local branches to allocate takeoff and landing times.
“It remains unclear whether our carriers will all be able to obtain ideal schedules,” the CAA official said. “Even if they can acquire landing and takeoff times, they will need 10 days to two weeks to prepare for opening the extra flights, so they are not expected to take off until mid-September.”
Chinese carriers have also filed applications with the CAA to operate extra flights, but the CAA has yet to approve any of them, although the official said carriers from both sides would inaugurate their extra flights at roughly the same time.
EVA Air is prohibiting the use of portable chargers on board all flights starting from Saturday, while China Airlines is advising passengers not to use them, following the lead of South Korean airlines. Current regulations prohibit portable chargers and lithium batteries from check-in luggage and require them to be properly packed in carry-on baggage, EVA Air said. To improve onboard safety, portable chargers and spare lithium batteries would be prohibited from use on all fights starting on Saturday, it said. Passengers are advised to fully charge electronic devices before boarding and use the AC and USB charging outlets at their seat, it said. South
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
WAR SIMULATION: The developers of the board game ‘2045’ consulted experts and analysts, and made maps based on real-life Chinese People’s Liberation Army exercises To stop invading Chinese forces seizing Taiwan, board gamer Ruth Zhong chooses the nuclear option: Dropping an atomic bomb on Taipei to secure the nation’s freedom and her victory. The Taiwanese board game 2045 is a zero-sum contest of military strategy and individual self-interest that puts players on the front lines of a simulated Chinese attack. Their battlefield game tactics would determine the theoretical future of Taiwan, which in the real world faces the constant threat of a Chinese invasion. “The most interesting part of this game is that you have to make continuous decisions based on the evolving situation,
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
RSS