Japan Airlines (JAL) yesterday celebrated the 60th anniversary of the launch of service between Tokyo International Airport (Haneda airport) and Taipei’s Songhan Airport, now known as Taipei International Airport.
JAL’s first flight from Haneda to Songshan was on July 30, 1959, with a Douglas DC-6B that could accommodate 50 passengers.
Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chi Wen-chung (祁文中), Tourism Bureau Director General Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) and Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association chief executive Mikio Numata and JAL managing executive officer Tetsuya Onuki attended JAL’s ceremony at Songshan to mark the anniversary.
Photo: CNA
The anniversary is an important milestone in tourism exchanges between Taiwan and Japan, Chi said in a speech.
It showed the importance of the Songshan-Haneda service to the airline, and on behalf of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC), he wanted to thank JAL for its 60-year record, Chi said.
Taiwan and Japan have been partners for many years in transportation, tourism, economy and trade, Chi said.
“Although we have encountered difficulties in maintaining the operation of the route, we have managed to find solutions and gradually increase the passengers traveling on the route,” he added.
The most significant challenge came when JAL could no longer offer flights to Taiwan after Japan severed formal diplomatic ties with the nation in 1972 and established ties with China the following year, he said.
To fill the void, JAL in 1975 established Japan Asia Airways (JAA), which served customers in Japan and in Taiwan for 33 years before being merged into JAL in 2008.
JAL flight attendants at the ceremony were dressed in uniforms worn over the years by JAL and JAA cabin crews.
There are 37 routes between Taiwan and Japan, serviced by JAL and other airlines, with the number of weekly flights topping 690, and about 13.42 million passengers have traveled on these routes, Chi said.
Last year alone, 4.82 million Taiwanese tourists visited Japan, a 4.5 percent increase from 2017, while 1.96 million Japanese tourists visited Taiwan, an increase of 3.8 percent, he said.
The number of Japanese tourists visiting Taiwan this year might exceed 2 million, he said.
“Traveling in Taiwan or Japan has brought wonderful memories to peoples of different generations in both nations over the past 60 years. We hope they could continue sharing these memories with their families through the flights offered by JAL,” he said.
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