The high speed rail has dealt a heavy blow to domestic air traffic, reducing the number of air passengers by 22 percent compared with figures for the same period last year, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday.
Ministry officials said there were approximately 119,000 domestic flights in the first six months of this year, down 13.72 percent from the 138,000 flights during the same period last year.
The number of air passengers on domestic routes totaled 6.72 million in the first six months of this year, down 22.14 percent from the 8.63 million the same period last year.
By comparison, the number of international flights totaled 95,820 during the first half of this year, up 3.36 percent over the figure for the same period last year.
The number of passengers on these international flights totaled 12.01 million, up 4.26 percent from the 11.52 million last year.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Tsai Duei (蔡堆) said the launch of the high speed rail service in early January had affected other transportation operators, especially domestic air carriers.
Taking consumer rights as well as the sustainable development of air carriers into consideration, the ministry has reviewed flight routes and numbers and begun working with the industry to promote package tours, he said.
Civil Aeronautics Administration Director-General Billy Chang (張國政) said a sluggish economy as well as convenient land transportation had affected domestic air carriers.
As the air carriers cannot allow their planes to lie idle, some have been forced to cut air fares to compete with the high speed rail, Chang said, adding that "this is not a good thing."
The railway has cut travel time between Taipei and Kaohsiung -- five hours on a regular train -- by more than half.
The high speed rail operates 45 round-trip runs daily, carrying about 50,000 passengers. It has transported 10 million passengers since its inauguration on Jan. 5.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
RSS