Although latecomers may find that prices for Lunar New Year flights are higher, AirAsia’s fares are still about 20 percent lower than full-fledged carriers, Tan said.
Cross-strait direct flights are also booming, with both China Airlines (中華航空) and EVA Airways (長榮航空) reporting full bookings.
Scheduled flights between Taiwan and China were formally launched on Aug. 31 last year. Last Lunar New Year, there were only chartered flights serving travelers.
“Flights to most mainland destinations have been sold out,” China Airlines spokesperson Bruce Chen (陳鵬宇) said of the Lunar New Year’s demand.
Cross-strait flights are one of the best-selling routes for airlines, more so during Lunar New Year when hordes of Taiwanese businesspeople working in China return home for family reunions.
Chen said China Airlines was permitted to launch 46 extra flights during Lunar New Year to cope with the extra demand, and tickets have sold fast since the bookings began on Jan. 26.
The Civil Aeronautics Administration decided to increase the frequency of cross-strait direct flights from Feb. 1 to Feb. 28 to alleviate the tight supply.
An additional 100 cross-strait flights were permitted, with 51 flights flying to the Greater Shanghai area, including Shanghai, Hangzhou, Ningbo and Nanjing. The remaining flights cover Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Fuzhou and Chengdu.
RSS