All flights by Taiwan carriers under a newly opened "indirect charter flight" program must include stopovers in Hong Kong or Macau to and from China, a Ministry of Transportation and Communications official said yesterday.
Taiwan carriers can apply for permission from the Hong Kong or Macau authorities for the stopovers for the indirect charter flights to and from China during the Lunar New Year holidays to carry passengers to Taiwan, Vice Minister of Transportation and Communications Oliver Yu said (游芳來).
The carriers would also be required to apply to the Civil Aeronautics Administration one month in advance of any such flights headed to China, Yu said during an interpellation session at the Legislative Yuan.
The carriers must file similar applications with the Chinese authorities to obtain permission for chartering flights to China via Hong Kong or Macau, Yu added.
The air-links issue remained a hot topic at the Legislative Yuan following the Mainland Affairs Council's decision Tuesday to allow carriers to operate indirect chartered flights during the Lunar New Year period for Taiwanese wishing to return from China for the holidays.
The council's decision was a response to a proposal initiated by KMT Legislator John Chang (
Chang proposed that Taiwanese carriers be allowed to operate some 120 charter flights between Taipei and Shanghai during the New Year period to meet needs. He said this would also help save passengers about half the cost of flying between the two locations via a third country.
Yu ruled out the possibility, for the time being, of Taiwan's carriers operating direct charter flights between Taipei and Shanghai or between any other points in Taiwan and China without stopovers in Hong Kong or Macau.
Yu said that according to government regulations, the opening of any direct air links, even charter flights for a designated period of time, requires cross-strait negotiations that take into account national security and sovereignty.
Yu said the Hong Kong, Macau indirect charter flight formula can be applied for other occasions, such as the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival, when large numbers of businesspeople are expected to return to Taiwan for family reunions.
Meanwhile, PFP Legislator Cheng Chin-ling (鄭金鈴) said she doubts that local carriers will be interested in the opening of indirect charter flights via Hong Kong or Macau as the formula is not economical. The costs of the stopovers and landings to the carriers would be about the same as the costs without the new formula, she said.
In Beijing, Chinese Minister of Foreign Trade Shi Guangsheng (石廣生) yesterday urged Taiwanese airlines to negotiate directly with China, saying talks on the issue had "gone on for too long."
Backing the idea of direct charter flights, Shi also told a briefing on the fringes of the 16th National Congress that the broader issue of direct links should be left to businesspeople.
"If Taiwanese aviation companies come forward and make applications with the relevant Chinese aviation authorities, I think aviation authorities will look positively on them," Shi said.
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