The Civil Aeronautics Adminis-tration (CAA) said yesterday that it has approved Uni Air's (立榮航空) application to cancel all of its flights between Taipei and Kaohsiung, effective from March.
Four domestic airliners jointly provide 22 daily flights between Taipei and Kaohsiung. Uni provides two round-trip flights a day.
CAA deputy director-general Lin Shinn-der (
"[Uni's decision] is the result of free market competition," he said.
This would be the third approval for flight cancellations issued by the CAA since last year when Mandarin canceled its Taipei-Taichung flight in August and Uni canceled its Taipei-Chiayi route in October.
Lin said yesterday that passenger loads on all domestic flights along the west coast have declined since the high speed rail began operation in March last year.
Lin said that Uni applied to withdraw the Taipei-Kaohsiung flight last month, and the company originally planned to stop operations starting on the 15th of next month, but the CAA asked the company to start canceling flights in March instead, he said.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) approved the application last week, Lin said.
The administration also issued a statement yesterday saying that the company had tried in September to offer a 50 percent discount for passengers on the Taipei-Kaohsiung flight. The move, however, failed to help Uni win back enough lost customers to continue the route.
Last month, the company had 9,890 passengers taking the Taipei-Kaohsiung flights, which was only 14.7 percent of the total for the same period a year earlier.
The company suffered an accumulated loss of NT$104 million (US$3.15 million) for operating the Taipei-Kaohsiung flight last year.
On the west coast, Uni still has the right to operate flights between Taipei and Hengchun (
Lin said the administration has determined that Uni's withdrawal will have only a slight impact on passenger transportation.
To protect the interests of air passengers, Lin said the administration has asked the company to inform customers about the upcoming change.
Passengers are also entitled to ask for a full refund of the tickets without any additional processing fees.
Lin confirmed yesterday that Mandarin Airlines has recently applied to suspend flights between Taichung and Taitung while Far Eastern has also requested an end to its Taipei-Tainan flights.
The MOTC has yet to approve the applications, he said.
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the