Tickets for additional cross-strait flights during the Lunar New Year holiday period are scheduled to go on sale from tomorrow, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said.
Five Taiwanese carriers are expected to offer a combined 129 additional flights from Jan. 25 to Feb. 22 to cope with the passenger surge over the Lunar New Year holiday period, the administration said.
Of the additional flights, 63 are to Shanghai, five are to Beijing and 61 are to other Chinese cities, it said.
The tickets going on sale tomorrow are for 84 of the additional flights.
Sales for the remaining 45 flights, to cities such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hangzhou, are to be made available in a second round of sales after approval from Chinese authorities.
The five carriers offering the additional flights are China Airlines, EVA Airways, TransAsia Airways, Mandarin Airlines and Far Eastern Air Transport.
UNI Airways is not offering additional holiday-period services.
The administration said tickets would be made available only on airline Web sites from 9am tomorrow until midnight on Tuesday. Thereafter tickets are to be available through other channels, including travel agencies.
The administration said fares to Shanghai and Beijing are expected to exceed NT$15,000 and NT$17,000 respectively.
Flights departing after midnight attract a 40 percent discount on regular fares for tickets with a one-year validity.
Fares to Hangzhou, Wuxi, Ningbo and Shenzhen are expected to be discounted by 15 percent, and fares on flights to other Chinese cities are expected to attract a 30 percent discount.
The administration said the airlines have the flexibility to adjust the number of additional flights based on demand.
From Jan. 25 to Feb. 22, eight Chinese carriers are scheduled to make 539 flights across the Taiwan Strait.
The flights consist of 183 between Shanghai and Taiwan, 36 between Beijing and Taiwan and 320 from other Chinese cities, the administration said.
The Chinese carriers include Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Spring Airlines, Juneyao Airlines, Xiamen Air, Shenzhen Airlines and Shandong Airlines.
Information on tickets for those carriers’ additional flights was not immediately available.
Taiwan and China launched regular direct flights in 2008.
Thirteen Chinese carriers operate direct flights across the Taiwan Strait.
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