■ Airlines apply for festival routes
Six domestic airlines have applied to conduct 24 cross-strait charter flights between Sept. 29 and Oct. 8 for the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said yesterday.
This year's Mid-Autumn Festival falls on Oct. 6, and cross-strait flights will be offered between Sept. 29 and Oct. 13, the officials said.
Among the 24 flights, 16 will be offered between Taipei and Shanghai, four will go to Beijing and four to Xiamen.
EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空), Trans Asia Airways (復興航空) and Far East Air Transport (遠東航空) have applied to fly to and from Shanghai, while China Airlines (華航) and Mandarin Airlines (華信航空) have applied to fly to and from both Shanghai and Beijing.
UNI Airways (立榮航空) has applied to fly to and from Xiamen. No airline has applied to fly to Guangzhou, CAA officials said.
■ KMT to hold forums in China
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is scheduled to hold forums in China next month on improving the protection of Taiwanese investors on the mainland, a KMT official said yesterday.
A delegation led by KMT vice chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) will holds talks with representatives from Taiwan's investor associations on between Sept. 15 and Sept. 16 in Chengdu in Sichuan Province.
Between Sept. 17 and Sept. 18 in Beijing, the delegates will exchange views with more Taiwanese businessmen and hold discussions with Chinese authorities.
"The [September] forum will be the second of its kind, focusing on protection of Taiwanese investors there," said Kao Koong-lian (高孔廉), a research fellow at with the KMT's National Policy Foundation (國家政策研究基金會).
■ CPC, Taipower post deficits
State-run Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC, 中油) and Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) reported deficits for the first seven months of this year, posting a combined NT$34.43 billion loss in the period, according to the State-owned Enterprise Commission's statistics.
As a result of soaring crude prices, CPC lost NT$22.4 billion in the January-July period, while Taipower had a NT$14.7 billion loss for that period, the statistics showed.
Taiwan Sugar Corp (台糖) reported pre-tax earnings of NT$1.5 billion, the highest among the six state-run companies, the commission said.
China Shipbuilding Corp (中船) posted pre-tax earnings of NT$573 million, or 201.05 percent of the target, followed by Taiwan Water Corp (台灣自來水公司) that with NT$241 millio, it said.
■ Angkor Airways to begin flights
Angkor Airways, a Cambodian carrier, will soon launch flights between Taiwan and China using Phnom Penh as a transit point, the airline said.
Beginning Sept. 7, Angkor will fly three times each week between Taipei and Chengdu, airline official Thomas Chang (張凱堯) said.
Angkor Airways hopes to cash in on the growing market for travel between Taiwan and China, with the new flights offer passengers an alternative route, he said.
Angkor's flights could later be extended to other Chinese cities, including Chongqing in Sichuan Province and Kunming in Yunnan Province, Chang said.
■ New Taiwan dollar weakens
The New Taiwan dollar weakened against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, gaining NT$0.023 to close at NT$32.690.
A total of US$817 million changed hands during the day's trading.
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