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Charter flights could revive business at local airports: CAA

Launching more international charter flights and cooperating with travel agencies to create attractive tour packages could be remedies for declining passenger traffic and revenues at local airports that serve only domestic routes, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said in a statement yesterday.

The development of local overland transportation infrastructure has taken its toll on domestic routes and, consequently, airports serving those routes.

The nation's 18 airports generated NT$15.7 billion (US$490.6 million) in revenue in 2006, but the only two that made money were its two international gateways -- the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Kao-hsiung International Airport.

To improve the finances of the 16 money-losing airports, domestic airlines should break with routes that are already well served by ground transportation and look abroad, the CAA said.

"For airports in areas like Taichung, Kinmen and Hualien, which are locations fit for international airlines, launching international charter flights could revitalize business," it said.

Three local airlines -- Uni Airways (立榮航空), Far Eastern Air Transport (遠東航空) and Mandarin Airlines (華信航空) -- benefited from such a strategy last year, the CAA said, citing Uni Air's profitable flights from Taichung to Japan, Hong Kong and Vietnam.

Special packages to popular tourist destinations in the east and outlying islands could also spark business, the CAA said.

"Airlines could take advantage of the areas' natural beauty in combination with support from local governments and travel agencies to provide packages that spur demand," it said.

Another way to create business for the underused airports was to organize aeronautics exhibitions or festivals, the CAA said.

"This could produce a twofold benefit: raising profit while enticing more public attention to the development of the airline industry," it said.
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