Wed, Jul 03, 2002 page11

• Far East slams decision to hand flights to Mandarin

  HONG KONG ROUTE The airline also denied rumors that it used `Beijing connections' to try and influence Hong Kong's decision-makers to give it the 16 extra weekly flights

  • By Richard Dobson / STAFF REPORTER
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  The Far East Air Transport Corp (遠航) has slammed the decision to award additional flights along the Hong Kong route to rival Mandarin Airlines (華信) as unfair and denied it used any underhanded political tactics to sway negotiators.

  Far East, which was passed over on the weekend when Hong Kong and Taiwan negotiators awarded 16 new weekly flights to China Airlines Co's (華航) subsidiary, Mandarin, said in a statement the evaluation of prospective airlines was too narrow.

  "It was regretful that the government only considered the airlines' services to outlying islands and didn't pay closer attention to the companies' safety records and service and maintenance performances," the statement said.

  

  A Far East Airlines jet liner gets ready to take off at Taipei's Sungshan Airport.

  TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO

  In deciding which airline should be awarded the 16 weekly flights -- which were earmarked for China Airlines before that airline was knocked out of consideration by the May 25 crash of one of its planes -- the government claimed it examined all these factors equally.

  Jan Jyh-horng (詹志宏), director of research and planning at the Mainland Affairs Council and one of the Taiwan negotiators, admitted that after the Civil Aeronautics Administration and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications completed their evaluation, all six of the nation's airlines qualified.

  Jan said that Mandarin's lone servicing of the loss-making routes to Chimei Island and Wangan Island -- both part of the Penghu or Pescadore Archipeligo, with populations of under 2,000 each -- made it a prime choice for the extra routes.

  Mandarin flies four times per week between Kaohsiung and Wangan, 12 times per week between Kaohsiung and Chimei and one round-trip per day between Makung and Chimei.

  Flying the routes incur heavy losses for the airline, which operates them literally as a form of community service on behalf of the government.

  Far East claimed that, due to the small size of the airports on the tiny islets and its own lack of small-enough aircraft, it isn't able to service the routes. It claims that, by making this type of "community service" the main factor in the government's deliberations, the final decision was unfair.

  Besides highlighting what it perceives as inequities in the Hong Kong air-route decision, Far Eastern also attempted to dispel accusations circulating in the local media which claim the company used underhand tactics to sway the decision makers.

  While not naming Far East, Jan told the Taipei Times that a certain Taiwanese airline had used its influence with lawmakers and officials in Beijing to sway Hong Kong authorities to push negotiators into awarding it the new routes.

  "[The company] used legislators and Beijing's interference to make Hong Kong select them," Jan said.

  "They used politics to go around the law. This kind of company shouldn't exist in our society," he said.

  Far East, which was seen as the likely beneficiary, denied that it had pressured the Taiwan government or attempted to influence the decisions of the Hong Kong and Beijing authorities.

  "At the beginning of the year Far East applied twice to the appropriate government agencies -- in accordance with the related laws -- for permission to be included for consideration to operate the Hong Kong-to-Taiwan route," the statement said.

  "The company never pressured the government nor does it have any channels to influence the opinions of the Chinese or Hong Kong governments regarding Taiwan carriers," it added.
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