Increasing the number of scheduled cross-strait flights to 270 per week will still not be enough to meet demand and the number should be increased to 540 weekly flights, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday.
Most cross-strait flights operate at 90 percent to 95 percent capacity, and the quality of airline service could be affected if the two sides do not add more flights, he said.
“It’s a good thing that the number of Chinese tourists is increasing, but the quality of the tourist industry will be affected if related measures are not put in place,” Ma said when meeting a group of overseas Taiwanese from the US at the Presidential Office.
FALLING SHORT
Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) agreed on Sunday during cross-strait negotiations to increase the number of scheduled cross-strait flights from 108 to 270.
The number fell short of what Taiwan had expected. Of the 270 weekly flights, the number of flights to Shanghai only increased from 40 weekly flights to 56.
In response to a recent accident in which a crane hit a tour bus carrying 25 tourists from China and caused three deaths, Ma urged the tourist industry to take more precautions and tend to the quality of its service.
REPATRIATION
Ma yesterday also took the opportunity to laud the signing of an agreement to subject white-collar criminals to repatriation. Ma said he expected the US to sign a similar agreement with Taiwan.
“The government has been pushing for a repatriation pact with the US since I was justice minister ... There are quite a few fugitives in the US right now,” he said.
Ma said that Taiwan was cooperating with the US, and had helped the US repatriate many fugitives.
He urged the US to sign a repatriation agreement and join forces with Taiwan to combat crime.
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