Taiwan plans to suspend all chartered flights to the Philippines before the end of the year amid fading hope of settling an air dispute which has already led to the cut-off of regular flights.
"No new approval will be given to Philippine-bound chartered flights except for those going to Subic Bay," said an official with the Civil Aeronautics Administration (
"That means the scheduled chartered flights outside of Subic Bay are to be terminated at the end of this month," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"Subic Bay-bound chartered flights would also be suspended by the end of December," the official said.
Taiwan has US$1 billion worth of investment projects in the Philippines, including US$300 million in the former US Subic naval base.
The official said Taipei was not seeking to resume talks with Manila, which broke off over differences about flight capacity.
"Why do we have to take the initiative since Manila cares less about the flight route?" the official said.
"It is not possible for us to return to the negotiating table unless they change their mind and respect the 1996 agreement," the official said.
Direct air links were cut off on Oct. 1 after Taipei rejected Manila's demand that China Airlines (
Taipei alleged the demand was a bid to help the debt-ridden PAL, which narrowly avoided bankruptcy in June after agreeing to a rehabilitation plan.
Local tourism agents warned the Philippines would pay dearly for the disruption of direct air links as Taiwan tourists would have to pay more for flights to the Philippines.
Last year 186,000 Taiwan tourists visited the Philippines. The island also employs some 115,000 Filipino workers and maids.
The Freedom to Fly Coalition, a grouping of Philippine travel agents, has warned the "perversion of aviation policy" by President Joseph Estrada would lead to annual losses of US$200 million to that country's tourism industry.
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