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Three airlines win rights to new air routes to Japan

EVA Air, TransAsia Airways and Far Eastern Air Transport have secured the rights to new routes to Japan, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) announced yesterday.

Eva Air has won permission for regular flights from Taipei to Komatsu and Miyazaki. The airline was also allowed to increase passenger capacity for flights between Taipei and Sapporo.

Meanwhile, EVA Air was also given the right to fly from Taipei to Los Angeles via Osaka.

TransAsia and Far Eastern won the rights to fly charter flights to Japan. The CAA said that both airlines planned to fly to Hokkaido and Kyushu as they are popular tourist attractions for Taiwanese.

China Airlines did not receive any new air rights in the wake a fire that destroyed one of its planes at the Naha Airport in Okinawa earlier this year.

CAA Deputy Director-General Lin Shinn-der (林信得) said that EVA Air planned to use Airbus 330-200s for the flights to Komatsu and Miyazaki.

Each route will have two flights per week, he said.

For the flights to Sapporo, Lin said EVA will use a Boeing 777-300ER, increasing the capacity for each flight from 252 seats to 316 seats. There will be seven flights a week, he said. EVA will use Boeing 777s on its six flights per week to Los Angeles, Lin said.

The agreement was signed last month but the Ministry of Transportation and Communications did not give its final approval to the deal until yesterday.

Lin said that EVA is scheduled to begin operating the new routes next June, while TransAsia and Far Eastern could possibly begin services in March.

In related news, the CAA has rejected Far Eastern's request to halt its twice-weekly flight service between Taipei and Tainan.

CAA Director-General Billy Chang (張國政) said the flights are needed. Many people have started taking flights since the airline started offering discounts, he said.
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