CAL decides to cut flights

Taiwan's main carrier, China Airlines Co (華航), plans to cut 19 weekly flights to destinations in the US and Asia because of a sharp drop in passenger volume since the attacks on the US last month, according to an executive.

The air carrier will reduce the frequency of flights from Taipei to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver and New York between today and Oct. 27 by 12, according to company spokesman Paul Wang (王振畬).

Flights to regional destinations such as Manila, Phuket and Ho Chi Minh City will also see their frequency slashed by a combined total of seven weekly flights, Wang said.

China Airlines is slashing its flight frequencies based on demand, Wang said.

Despite the passenger drop-off, Wang maintains that the company is not operating in the red and is adjusting flight frequencies so as to keep it that way.

"If reservation status for flights are below cost levels, then we cancel them," Wang said.

Passenger numbers to US and regional destinations have fallen sharply since the terrorist attacks on the US on Sept. 11.

According to global travel company Amadeus, which serves as a data network for over 56,000 travel agencies and 8,500 airlines sales offices worldwide, international travel between Sept. 11 and Sept. 30 fell by 27.5 percent year-on-year.

China Airlines' cuts come a week after its biggest domestic rival EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) announced it had cut 17 weekly flights to destinations to the US and around the region.

EVA spokesman Nieh Kuo-wei (聶國偉) said the reduced number of flights had increased the cost-effectiveness of the airline by boosting passenger loads on flights.

In related news, local Chinese-language media reported that the Mainland Affairs Council had decided to drop its insistence that discussions between Taiwan and Hong Kong over a bilateral air agreement be conducted by government officials.

According to a local newspaper, executives from Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific (國泰航空) and Dragon Air (港龍航空) recently met with aviation officials in Taipei to discuss the agreement.

The agreement, which was signed in 1996 and permits airlines from both sides to maintain 121 flights per week on the lucrative route across the Strait, expired in June. But because of Taiwan's insistence that talks be conducted on an official level -- a condition unacceptable to the Beijing-controlled government in Hong Kong -- discussions were never held and a renewal of the deal was impossible.

Mainland Affairs Council officials were unavailable when sought for comment yesterday.