Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) Director-General Lee Lung-wen (李龍文) said yesterday that Far Eastern Air Transport Corp (FAT, 遠東航空) must secure safety certification for at least three aircraft before it can be permitted to operate regular cross-strait flights.
“They [FAT] have to own these aircraft and must not rent aircraft from others to operate cross-strait flights,” Lee said.
“If they [FAT] want to survive, they need to figure out a way to save themselves,” Lee said. “I have already shown them what the carrot is.”
Lee said the CAA would try to deliver a final ruling on FAT’s plan to resume operations by the end of this month so it could start distribution of regular cross-strait flights.
Earlier this year, Lee said the CAA planned to make regular cross-strait flight services available in July.
Lee said earlier this week that FAT would not be able to participate in the distribution of regular cross-strait flights under an uncertain status.
Aside from its plan to resume operations, Lee said the company also submitted plans to restructure its finances and pay off debts. The CAA has the administrative authority to approve FAT’s plan to resume operations, while Taipei District Court must approve the other two plans.
The CAA will reserve a small number of cross-strait flights for FAT before the court reviews its plans on June 26, Lee said.
Meanwhile, the CAA will ensure that FAT fulfills its debt repayment promises by setting a very strict timeline.
“It’s like when you negotiate with a bank for a plan to pay off debts,” Lee said. “If one check bounces, the bank will consider the rest of the checks to have bounced as well.”
But before FAT can offer cross-strait flights, those flights reserved for FAT will be shared among the other five domestic carriers.
“Once FAT has enough aircraft ready for cross-strait flights, these airlines then have to return the flights back to FAT,” Lee said.
The CAA has already withdrawn FAT’s right to fly international flights, which have been assigned to other carriers.
FAT now has 13 aircraft, but it only owns four of them. All of the aircraft are grounded.
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