The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) on Saturday said that a third local airline might be able to provide direct flights between Taipei and Seoul.
The administration said it hopes to review the bilateral aviation agreement between Taiwan and South Korea in the second half of the year, and that more direct flights, as well as a third local carrier, might be added to the route.
However, it said that before relevant regulations are amended, only two direct flights a day would be allowed between Taipei International Airport (Songshan) and Gimpo Airport in Seoul.
The remarks came after TransAsia Airways on Thursday protested against a decision by the aeronautics administration to give only China Airlines (中華航空) and EVA Air (長榮航空) the rights to conduct direct flights on the route.
In a post on his Facebook page, TransAsia Airways chairman Lin Ming-sheng (林明昇) called on President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to amend the Civil Aviation Act (民用航空法) and to set a timetable for implementing his long-touted “open-sky policy.”
Lin said the government had been touting the open-sky policy for more than four years, but few measures have been put into practice.
Singapore and Thailand have already implemented open-sky policies, which have not only benefited the countries’ national airlines, but have also transformed Bangkok and Singapore into regional transport hubs, Lin said in his Facebook post.
The aeronautics administration announced on Thursday that according to the Taiwan-South Korea bilateral agreement, a total of seven non-stop flights to Gimpo Airport would be provided by China Airlines and EVA Air every week.
South Korea-based T’way Airlines and Eastar Jet will also schedule the same number of direct flights to Songshan, the administration said.
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