Flyers flee CAL flights after crash

"Cancel my China Airlines reservation" was the most common message travel agent Jennie Leng (冷繼玲) received from her clients yesterday.

Leng, a representative at Interlink Travel's (康喜旅行社) air-ticketing center for the last six years, specializes in serving foreign clientele.

"This morning I received several phone calls asking me to switch their air tickets from China Airlines to other airlines," Leng said.

And it was not only flights to Hong Kong. "Most of our customers refused to book any flights on China Airlines," she said.

"I don't want to fly on China Airlines for the short term -- the carrier is just too terrifying," said Amber Lin (林麗雪), a software engineer at Yam.com Technology Co (蕃薯藤), who is scheduled to visit China next week.

Lin plans to fly EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) or Cathay Pacific Airways (國泰航空). Lin's position seems to be a common sentiment among travelers here.

"Almost all of our new China-bound clients are requesting seats on EVA or Cathay Pacific since Saturday's incident," said Wang Po-ning (王柏寧), who works as an assistant manager at Everlight Travel Service Co (洋洋旅行社), an outbound group-tour travel service.

About 20 percent of Everlight's China-bound group-tour customers, scheduled to visit China in June, have cancelled their reservations since Saturday. Fallout from air crash is likely to continue.

"Based on my experience in the industry, the public will be haunted by the crash for about the next six months," Wang said.

The seat-occupancy rate at China Airlines dropped to less than 50 percent in 1998, when the company's Airbus A300-600 crashed near CKS International Airport, killing 182 passengers, Wang said.

Later in 1998, China Airlines cut rates drastically. It offered round-trip tickets to Hong Kong for NT$4,500 in an effort to stimulate business.

Currently, round-trip fare on the main Hong Kong route carriers -- China Airlines, EVA and Cathay Pacific -- is about NT$9,500.

Wang said travelers can definitely expect to see a drop in China Airlines' ticket prices.

"By early next month, China Airlines is likely to reduce their prices to attract customers."

Another industry insider said that this time the discount may not be as low as it was in 1998.

"Starting from next month, the summer peak travelling season is coming and demand is still there," said Teng Ming-chang (鄧明昌), secretary general of the Taipei Travel Agency Association.

In addition, the number of businesspeople flying across the Taiwan Strait is on the rise.

"Once EVA and Cathay Pacific's capacity can't meet the demand, people will have no choice but to take China Airlines," Teng said.

The crash comes at a difficult time for a travel industry, which is still suffering from a slump that began last year.

"The industry had just started to rebound -- the accident will be a setback" Tseng said.