Taichung residents have rushed to sign up for the first international flights from the city, despite a delay that has put the opening of the Taichung international airport on hold until March 5, the Civil Aero-nautics Administration (CAA) said yesterday.
The first international flights were due to depart Chingchuankang International Airport on Feb 27, however, CAA Director General Billy Chang (張國政) told reporters yesterday that the airport's launch had been put back to coordinate with a revised charter-flight schedule.
Chang said that the delay would allow more time for the completion of safety inspections and other necessary measures.
"The airport is currently undergoing safety inspections, but all required inspections will be completed by March," Chang said.
The airport's first flights have been chartered by the Taichung Chamber of Commerce to take several government officials and residents to Phuket, Palau and Tokyo.
While each flight can only seat a maximum of 120 passengers, more than 3,800 residents signed up with the chamber for the three travel packages.
The chamber held a random draw yesterday to pick the 360 passengers for the three flights. It said that 1,700 passengers had signed up to travel to Thailand, 1,100 to Palau and 1,000 to Japan.
Lai Cheng-i (賴正鎰), president of the chamber of commerce, said that China Airlines and Far Eastern Air Transport would service the charter flights.
Meanwhile, Chang said that the airport, which will be the country's third international airport, would be a standard international airport once it opened.
He said, however, that no airline companies had applied for scheduled routes departing from the new facility.
"While there have been rumors as to which airline companies will offer international flights from the new airport, it is too early to say for sure," Chang said.
"Also, due to the limitations posed by the size of the airport's runway, a maximum of three airline companies will be able to offer services from the airport," Chang said.
In October 2002 the Ministry of Transportation and Communications approved plans to upgrade Taichung's Shuinan Airport to an international airport by relocating it to the Chingchuankang military airbase and expanding the airbase to accommodate both civilian and military needs.
Shuinan Airport will close on March 6.
To mark the new airport's opening, Chunghwa Post has prepared a special edition of stamps, while Chunghwa Telecom will offer commemorative phone cards.
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