Chinese authorities have cleared Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways to fly direct to Beijing, a spokeswoman said yesterday, after the airline's partner-turned-rival Dragonair failed to block the bid.
China's Civil Aviation Administration last week granted Cathay a permit to operate between Beijing and Hong Kong, said company spokeswoman Lisa Wong.
Hong Kong's Air Transport Licensing Authority ended an air rights dispute between Cathay and Dragonair by ruling in April that Cathay could fly to three Chinese cities -- Shanghai, Beijing and Xiamen. Dragonair had challenged Cathay's bid for the flights.
Cathay expects to start running three passenger flights a week to the Chinese capital later this year, Wong said.
The venture would give Cathay a relatively small share of the market, in which Dragonair and Chinese airlines run more than 100 Hong Kong-Beijing flights a week.
"It's a small but important step for us," Wong said.
Cathay had hoped for 21 flights a week, but existing agreements between Hong Kong and China only allow the company to operate three a week to Beijing, she said.
The company wants a much larger stake in China's booming market, said another spokeswoman, Maria Yu.
"China's travel industry is developing very quickly and we hope we can be given further rights to operate more flights to match market demand," Yu said.
Cathay spokeswoman Wong said Hong Kong and Chinese officials were discussing the company's applications for operating services to Shanghai and Xiamen.
Although the former British colony of Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule six years ago, flights to the mainland operate under an aviation agreement resembling those between separate countries.
Cathay, which owns a minority stake in Dragonair, has not flown into China since turning over its routes to Dragonair in the early 1990s.
For years, the two carriers' passenger routes didn't overlap. Cathay focused on long-haul destinations and Asian business centers, while Dragonair served China and secondary Asian cities.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique