Taiwan yesterday signed an open skies agreement with Japan, lifting restrictions on the number of carriers allowed to offer scheduled passenger services between the two countries.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it hoped the deal would help spur tourism between Taiwan and Japan.
Under the agreement, restrictions on the number of carriers providing regular passenger services on profitable routes — currently two from each side — will be lifted.
Taiwanese air carriers will be allowed to offer unlimited flights to any Japanese destination except Tokyo.
The main airlines to be affected by the deal are China Airlines, EVA Airways, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways.
According to the Civil Aeronautics Administration, Japan is the third country to sign an open skies agreement with Taiwan, following the US and Singapore.
A total of 923,000 Japanese visited Taiwan in the nine months to September, an increase of nearly 50 percent over the previous year.
During the same period, the number of Taiwanese tourists traveling to Japan fell 21 percent to 845,000 in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the Tourism Bureau said.
On Sept. 22, Taiwan and Japan signed an investment protection accord, a move that has helped ease investment barriers and offer greater investment protection.
Japan is Taiwan’s fifth-largest trading partner and bilateral trade totaled US$70 billion last year. Taiwan exported US$12.23 billion in goods to Japan from January to August, up 3.5 percent from the same period last year, government data showed.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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