Taiwan’s Weekly Cross-Strait Flights to Decline in Number

 Taiwan’s Weekly Cross-Strait Flights to Decline in Number

Source: United Daily News

April 14, 2016

Taiwan’s airlines have proposed plans to reduce the number of cross-Strait flights to cope with the decline in Mainland tourists visiting Taiwan.  According to the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Taiwan’s airlines plan to reduce the number of cross-Strait flights by 29 per week.

EVA Air, China Airlines, TransAsia Airways, and Far Eastern Air Transport plan to reduce the number of cross-Strait flights or replace larger planes with small ones.  Destinations which will see a decline in cross-Strait flights include Harbin (哈爾濱), Changchun (長春), Jinan (濟南), Hangzhou (杭州), and Nanjing (南京).

Cross-Strait flights account for 15% of the revenue of China Airlines and Eva Air, but both airlines have larger fleets and operate more flights, so they can adjust their operating strategies more easily than other airlines in Taiwan.  Cross-Strait flights account for 30% of TransAsia Airways’ flights, and 50% of Far Eastern Air Transport’s flights, so both airlines will be heavily impacted by the decline in the number of the Mainland tourists visiting Taiwan.

The CAA stated that there had been 711 cross-Strait flights per week last winter, but the number of flights would be reduced to 682 per week this summer, adding that all airlines would adjust their flight schedules according to market demand.  The CAA added that local airlines were closely monitoring market demand and would decide how to adjust their flight schedules in the middle of May at the earliest.  

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