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Presidential election 2008: 8 days to go: Airlines apply to offer extra flights during election day

Taiwanese and foreign carriers have applied to provide an additional 45 flights between Taiwan and several transit stops on the cross-strait air route to fly voters home from China ahead of the presidential election, Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) Director General Billy Chang (張國政) said on Wednesday.

Several local and foreign airlines have gained approval to add the extra "voter flights" between Taiwan and several transit hubs including Hong Kong, Macau and Cheju Island in South Korea, to carry as many as possible of the 1 million or so China-based Taiwanese businesspeople who wish to vote in the presidential election, Chang said.

The CAA chief made the comments during an question-and-answer session in reply to inquiries from legislators concerned about the difficulties cited by many China-based Taiwanese businesspeople in obtaining plane tickets from Hong Kong or Macau to fly back to Taiwan in time for the election.

Chang said that China Airlines and EVA Airways Corp, Taiwan's largest and second-largest carriers, respectively, would each provide an additional nine charter flights from Hong Kong, Macau or Cheju Island in the runup to the election.

During the same period, Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways and Far East Air Transport Corp will offer an additional five and four flights, respectively, from the three major cross-strait transit stops.
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