Rival airlines cooperate

With most of Taiwan's domestic airlines operating in the red, two rivals have decided to team up to convince the public that flying is still a safe and convenient way to travel.

UNI Airways Corp (立榮航空) and Mandarin Airlines (華信航空) are offering endorsement services on tickets.

"Passengers with UNI flight tickets can be endorsed by Mandarin and take the Mandarin flights, and visa versa," said Cherry Chen (陳麗萍), a public relations manager at UNI Airways.

However, the privilege only applies to passengers traveling between Taipei and Taichung.

"These two cities are not far from each other, and passengers can choose to take trains or buses rather than air travel," said Linda Hsiao (蕭曉玲), public relations manager at Mandarin Airlines.

"In order to attract passengers, we decided to provide more convenient and time-saving services."

Since most passengers traveling the route are businesspeople who want to save time, regardless of the higher expense, flight flexiblity is crucial, she said.

"Through our cooperative services, customers have access to over 50 flights a day, and they won't have to wait more than 30 minutes between flights."

Scarce profits are nothing new to the sector.

"Since 1999, the domestic air business began to drop. Along with this year's bad economic climate and global air accidents, the nation's flight industry has suffered," Chen Chao-yu (陳昭諭) said yesterday.

He is a section chief at the Taiwan Civil Aeronautics Administration under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.

According to aeronautics administration statistics, domestic passenger load has dropped 10 percent in September over August.

"The Sept. 11 attacks in New York have more or less impaired public confidence in flying," Chen said.

On average about 672 people flew between Taipei and Taichung each day in September, down from 1,007 in August, according to the Civil Aeronautics Administration.

The Cabinet-level Fair Trade Commission has approved the co-endorsement service, saying it is a win-win situation for both consumers and the airlines.

"Passengers get convenient services and companies can pull in more customers and boost revenues," said Cheng Yu (鄭優), vice chairman of the commission.

"We know that the domestic airline business has been slow, so the commission decided to okay the strategy to stimulate market demand."