Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) said the charter flights were different from regular flights and could not be arranged by the government.
“Because these are inaugural flights, the government simply let them [the Chinese government] know our hope that the tourists could land at different airports,” he said.
The cross-strait charter flight service will also return Taipei Songshan Airport to its days as an international airport and gateway to the nation. But this has led to complaints that Songshan’s facilities are not up to the job.
The CAA completed its first-stage renovations of Taipei Songshan Airport on Monday
Mao said the ministry was considering reserving the airport’s first terminal for cross-strait passengers and the second terminal for domestic passengers.
Meanwhile, several people have expressed concern about the security of a section of the corridor to the custom, immigration and quarantine area at Songshan and fear the section could provide easy access to the domestic flight area to Chinese tourists.
Mao, however, said the problem could be resolved by setting up a cordon and adding extra security guards.
RSS