EVA Airways Corp’s (長榮航空) maiden flight on its new route to Munich, Germany, took off from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday morning, making it the carrier’s sixth route to a European destination after Paris, Amsterdam, London, Vienna and Milan, Italy.
Flight BR71, painted in a special Sanrio Co-inspired livery to mark the maiden service, took off at 9:40am with more than 300 passengers on board.
The flight was scheduled to arrive in Munich at 5:19pm.
Photo: Tony Yao, Taipei Times
At a news conference before the flight’s departure, EVA Airways chairman Steve Lin (林寶水) said the new route would bolster Taiwan’s position as a regional transit hub.
“EVA Air is focused on the transfer market, and we hope to use this new route to bring Southeast Asian travelers to Taiwan on their way to Munich and travelers from Munich to Taiwan en route to other major cities in Asia,” he said.
Lin said that Germany is Taiwan’s top trading partner in Europe, while Munich is the host of Electronica, the world’s leading trade fair and conference for electronics.
EVA Air offered its first flight to Milan on Tuesday last week.
Also attending the ceremony for the maiden flight to Munich on Thursday were Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department of European Affairs Director Vincent Yao (姚金祥), Civil Aeronautics Administration Director-General Lin Kuo-shian (林國顯), German Institute Taipei Deputy Director-General Dagmar Traub-Evans and German Trade Office Taipei executive director Axel Limberg.
Lin Kuo-shian said Taiwan is still working to establish direct flights to Prague as well as destinations in Poland, adding that he hopes airlines including EVA Air can extend their services there.
Steve Lin said the company is planning to launch flights to other European destinations, but those would depend on market planning and flight rights.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao in the Philippines at 7:38am today, prompting the US Tsunami Warning System to issue an alert for neighboring countries, including Taiwan. The system issued a purple alert indicating a "tsunami threat." The potential threat zone includes Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Yap and Palau. Philippine authorities were assessing the damage from the quake, with the office of civil defense seeking to verifying initial reports that 15 people had been killed and 129 injured in the region, mostly from falling debris. Arlene Hollero, disaster chief of Maasim town in the Philippines' Sarangani Province,
‘GRAY ZONE’ PRESSURE: Beijing’s activities are intended to create the deceitful impression that China has jurisdiction over the area around Taiwan, the CGA said Taiwan’s rights over its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone must not be violated by any country, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that it will not accept any unprovoked actions. The council issued the remarks in response to the China Coast Guard conducting maritime enforcement drills near eastern Taiwan and claiming to fully exercise China’s maritime administrative law enforcement authority. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has been closely monitoring the situation and is taking concrete steps to defend the nation’s sovereignty and secure its waters, the council said. China has no sovereign rights over the waters off eastern
RESILIENCE: Taiwan plays a key role in semiconductors, energy, information infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, AIT Director Raymond Greene said Taiwan’s continued investment in deterrence and resilience remains vital, especially in uncrewed systems and other emerging technologies, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday. Greene made the remarks at the annual National Strategic Summit on Supply Chain Resilience held by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET), a government-backed think tank. As Taiwan last year became the US’ fourth-largest trading partner and supply chain security is becoming more important, cooperation in emerging technologies continues to deepen between the two countries, he said. The US is committed to accelerating innovation, building key infrastructure, strengthening cooperation
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
RSS