Passenger flights between Taiwan and Canada are projected to increase by 61 percent within two years following the signing of a new aviation pact between the two countries yesterday. The pact was inked by Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) Director-General Jean Shen (沈啟) and Canadian Trade Office in Taipei Executive Director Kathleen Mackay.
Aside from increasing the number of passenger flights, the agreement has lifted the cap on cargo flights and listed relevant clauses on aviation safety.
“This arrangement recognizes the ongoing demand for the transport of people and goods between Canada and Taiwan, and reflects a desire to improve upon our strong long-term economic and people-to-people relationships,” Mackay said in a statement.
According to the CAA, the previous aviation pact between the two nations allowed Taiwanese carriers to offer a total of 13 flights per week, including both passenger and cargo flights.
Currently, China Airlines (CAL) flies seven passenger flights to Vancouver, and EVA Airways (EVA) dispatches three passenger flights to Vancouver and three to Toronto.
Under the new agreement, passenger flights dispatched from both sides would increase to 17 per week.
In addition to removing the restrictions on cargo flights, the agreement allows Taiwanese carriers to carry goods from Canada and transport them to a third country.
CAA statistics showed that the average occupancy rate for flights to Canada was about 84 percent.
Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau said that the Canadian government waived the visa requirements for Taiwanese in 2010, which has helped increase the number of tourists traveling between the two countries to 137,0000 last year.
Both CAL and EVA said that they are assessing the possibility of increasing the flights to Canada.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
RSS