Though he was aware that tickets for the cross-strait charter flight cost more than those for flights to China via Hong Kong or Macau, Lopez said the service has reduced the travel time between Shanghai and Taipei from about seven hours to two hours and 45 minutes.
“And to me, time is money,” he said.
The lobby area at Songshan Airport was crowded, as check-in counters were combined to accept both domestic and international passengers.
Customs officials said they did not open any of the charter flight passengers’ luggage, because the customs bureau did not want to incur bad luck for the inaugural Chinese tourist group.
However, they stressed that all luggage had undergone X-ray inspections.
Commenting on the first day of the weekend charter flight service, Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) said later yesterday that, on average, a passenger can leave Taoyuan’s second terminal within 20 minutes.
Some took longer than 40 minutes yesterday as a number waited for their team leaders, who were asked to attend the celebration ceremonies, while others were exchanging their money before leaving the terminal.
“The chaos outside the terminal was caused by passionate media who wanted to speak to the tourists,” he said.
At a separate setting yesterday, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) said that there was no need to go out of the way to please Chinese tourists and that acting naturally would be the best way to greet them.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
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