Taiwan's airlines are turning up the pressure on the government to open up direct flights to China, which have been banned for half a century. But despite the airline industry's best efforts to tap into the China market, the government maintains that discussions on opening links must be carried out at the governmental level, and not by private individuals, groups or organizations.
The Taipei Airline Association (TAA,
Alex Shih (施建華), secretary general of the association, said that the executives will visit all of Taiwan's carriers to discuss "general commercial issues" and familiarize themselves with Taiwan's travel and tourism environment.
News of the meeting comes only days after a delegation of the same six carriers returned from a visit to Beijing, where they met with senior aviation officials and industry executives for discussions on technical issues relating to direct air links.
These two meetings are the latest example of local airlines striking out on their own to foster closer ties across the Strait following the suspension of semi-official talks between Taipei and Beijing in 1998 and the recent sump in international air travel.
The driving force behind the increased the contacts is the hope of speeding up the process of establishing direct links and gaining access to lucrative routes between Taiwan and China.
None of Taiwan's four domestic carriers are expected to turn a profit this year, while international air carriers China Airlines Co (
China Airlines recently cut its annual profit forecast by half, while EVA is expecting losses for the year. Opening air links will be "hugely beneficial to Taiwan's airline industry," said Timothy Ross, regional analyst for UBS Warburg.
"Seventy percent of Taiwanese that visit Hong Kong are actually transiting to China ... [and once air links are established], given that most of the traffic is going to originate in Taiwan, the lion's share of the business would be going to the Taiwanese carriers," Ross said.
Last year Taiwanese recorded just under 2.5 million visits to China, bringing the cumulative total of visits since 1988, when such trips again became possible, to 17.6 million, according to the Mainland Affairs Council.
Airlines continue to plead their case to the government, both directly via meetings with officials and indirectly through high-profile meetings with their Chinese counterparts, to discuss technical and commercial issues.
"Opening links would be good news for the revenues of airlines in both China and Taiwan. We hope the government will consider our situation ... and open the door to China," Shih said.
Beijing, which would consider such links as "domestic," has said that negotiations could be carried out by the private sector under the authority of the appropriate agencies. Such a framework has found favor among local airlines.
"If the government can negotiate an agreement by themselves, then okay. But if they can't, then they should authorize civil organizations such as the TAA to carry out negotiations," Shih said.
Taipei, however, insists that discussions be conducted only by government agencies. The inability of the private sector to negotiate deals that involve national policy became apparent last week when Taipei shot down suggestions by Chinese officials and visiting Taiwanese airline executives in Beijing that Taiwan carriers may be permitted to fly through Chinese airspace.
Commenting on the suggestion, Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) said on Monday that discussions on the establishment of direct air links must be carried out by governmental agencies from both sides of the Strait.
While directly facilitating the process of opening air links remains out of bounds, the airlines are nevertheless preparing for the day when flying directly to Chinese destinations becomes a reality.
China Airlines last month bought a 25-percent stake in Shanghai-based China Cargo Airlines, while EVA Airways is reportedly mulling a partnership with China Southern Airlines.
China Airlines and EVA are also part of a group investment by Taiwan-based airlines in the construction of a cargo terminal at Xiamen International Airport.
Ross said that progress will be made over of period of time.
"I don't think it's going to be a big bang. What you'll see is gradual softening up process," Ross said. "It's probably going to be Taiwanese overflights over China, then cargo links, then links between secondary points before full implementation of a Taipei-Beijing route."
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