Taiwanese airlines yesterday welcomed Premier Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) announcement that the government will allow them to fly through China's air space, although a formal arrangement still has to be hammered out in negotiations between the two governments.
"It is good news for both carriers and consumers, who will be able to shorten their flying time," said Nieh Kuo-wei (
EVA Airways, the nation's second-largest carrier, said the new measure could help the company save between NT$150 million (US$4.7 million) and NT$200 million in fuel costs, although passengers would undoubtedly be the biggest beneficiary.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Nieh said that six of EVA Airways' routes could be changed to fly over China's air space, which would strengthen the carrier's competitive edge.
Flying over China would shorten the Taipei-Paris route by one hour to 11 hours. Ten to 15 minutes could be shaved off the Taipei-Hanoi route, and the cargo flight between Taipei and New Delhi or Mumbai could be shortened by 15 to 30 minutes.
Boosted by the latest cross-strait development, share prices of EVA Airways soared 4.7 percent to NT$15.75 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
China Airlines (
However, the government will first have to issue formal documents making legal provision for flights across China, following which carriers will have to apply for approval from the Chinese government, Nieh said.
"There's nothing special in this case, as we all have to follow the customary practice of getting approval from the nations whose air space our aircraft will have to fly across," he said.
Currently, airliners have to skirt China's air space as stipulated in the Act Governing Relations Between Peoples of The Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (
China Airlines, the nation's largest carrier, said it will conduct an assessment to choose suitable routes for the application.
The company currently operates 19 passenger flights and 13 cargo flights to Europe per week.
"It's hard to say how much we can save before carefully calculating the range of effects it will create," said China Airlines spokesman Johnson Sun (
"But we'll definitely apply for approval for flights between Taipei and New Delhi, Hanoi and Vienna," Sun said.
On the question of whether Hsieh's proposal would pave the way for direct links between Taiwan and China, Sun said that if direct charter flights across the Taiwan Strait could be launched on a regular basis, it would certainly be a good thing.
"It's too early to say that the government's message will act as a prelude to the implementation of direct links," Nieh said.
"It still requires some time of observation as there are other obstacles to be removed," he said.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
Nintendo Co hopes to match the runaway success of the Switch when its leveled-up new console hits shelves on Thursday, with strong early sales expected despite the gadget’s high price. Featuring a bigger screen and more processing power, the Switch 2 is an upgrade to its predecessor, which has sold 152 million units since launching in 2017 — making it the third-best-selling video game console of all time. However, despite buzz among fans and robust demand for pre-orders, headwinds for Nintendo include uncertainty over US trade tariffs and whether enough people are willing to shell out. The Switch 2 “is priced relatively high”
RSS