Maiden flight
Ten years after direct air links between Taiwan and South Korea were cut off, TransAsia Airways (復興航空) made its maiden chartered flight to the southeastern South Korean port city of Busan yesterday.
TransAsia used an Airbus A310 medium-range plane for the flight, with 91 passengers aboard. Among the passengers were two officials of the Civil Aeronautics Administration.
In conjunction with the 14th Asian Games being held in Busan, TransAsia was given permission to fly five round-trip chartered flights between Taipei and Busan from Oct. 4 to Oct. 18.
To facilitate transportation of Taiwan athletes and sports fans, South Korea has also permitted another Taiwan carrier -- Far East Air Transport Co (遠東航空) -- to operate chartered flights between Taipei and Busan during the Asiad period.
TransAsia said it has also filed applications to operate chartered flights between Taiwan and South Korea in late Oct. when an international sports meet for disabled people will be held in South Korea.
Chipmaker gets new chairman
Silicon Integrated Systems Corp (矽統), the world's third-largest maker of computer chipsets, said its president and chief executive will also become chairman.
Samuel Liu (劉曉明) will replace Du Chun-yuan (杜俊元), who resigned yesterday for health reasons, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Silicon Integrated doesn't plan to find a new president or chief executive.
``Liu is the person who knows our business the best,'' spokeswoman Jessie Lee said. Liu, who has a doctorate in engineering from Stanford University in the US, understands the design and manufacturing units of Silicon Integrated, she said.
Maeda wins MRT contracts
Japanese builder Maeda Corp has won contracts for the development of parts of the Kaohsiung mass rapid transit (MRT) system worth about 15 billion Japanese yen, corporate sources said yesterday.
Maeda won contracts for a 1.7-kilometer underground development project and the construction of three stations included in the first-stage development of the Kaohsiung MRT system, which will be the first of its kind in southern Taiwan.
Development of the Kaohsiung MRT system, which has an initial price tag of US$4.9 billion, is expected to be fully completed in six years.
Report on plant denied
Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團) chairman Wang Yung-ching (王永慶) yesterday reiterated that the Formosa Plastics did not halt the constructions of the third- and fourth-phase expansion projects of its the Sixth Naphtha Crackers (六輕) plant located at Mailiao in Yunlin County.
Wang made the remarks in refute to a Chinese-language newspaper report that Formosa Plastics has decided to postpone a plan to spend NT$120 billion to expand its petrochemical plants in Taiwan as demand in China slows. Completion of the expansion is slated for late 2003.
New Taiwan dollar weakens
The New Taiwan dollar remained weak against its US counterpart, losing NT$0.001 to close at NT$34.994 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
The turnover was US$260 million, down from the previous day's US$460 million.
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