Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) director-general Lee Lung-wen (李龍文) took a hard line yesterday on ticket prices for cross-strait flights, warning that any domestic airline that does not lower fares could have a hard time passing administrative reviews of their operation plans.
“If airlines don’t do something about ticket prices, then they are also giving us a hard time and will bring a lot of trouble to the CAA,” Lee said. “And if I am sinking, they are going down with me.”
Lee said that cross-strait flights are not meant to be profit-making machines for airlines. As more airports offer cross-strait flights and more cross-strait flights become available, Lee said there was room for airlines to lower ticket prices.
The air transportation agreement reached at the third round of cross-strait talks is scheduled to take effect on June 25. Lee said he hoped that the airlines would do a good job implementing the agreement.
In response, EVA Air (長榮航空) said that the company respected the director’s opinions, but added that “The company is trying really hard to sustain its operations.”
The company will determine the price of cross-strait flights after they consider the market, the costs and public expectations and perceptions of cross-strait flight services, it said.
Cross-strait flights began in July last year, with Taiwan and China agreeing to offer a total of 36 charter flights on weekends.
Charter flights then began on weekdays and increased from 36 to 108 after the second round of cross-strait talks, which also set new flight routes to shorten flight times.
This year, both sides are prepared to offer cross-strait regular flights totaling more than 135 per week.
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