Taiwan’s government-owned Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC, 漢翔航空) launched its maiden business charter flight on Saturday and took a first step to bringing the service to central Taiwan.
The flight, which set off from Taichung City to the outlying island of Kinmen, marked the beginning of the state-run enterprise’s business aviation services that will cover both domestic and international routes, according to a company statement.
AIDC said that it plans to operate charter flights between airports in Taiwan and major Asian cities, including Hong Kong, Macau, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City and Manila.
The company also hoped that Taiwan and China would establish a mechanism under which cross-Strait business charters could operate in the future, because cross-strait routes have been the most popular among local business travelers.
The charter flight services will use the Gulfstream Astra SPX twin-engine business jets that the company imported in 2000, AIDC said.
Previously known as the Aero Industry Development Center, AIDC was founded in 1969 under the authority of the Republic of China Air Force.
In 1996, the company was restructured from a military firm into a government-owned company under the authority of the Ministry of Economic Affairs to support the nation’s aerospace development.
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