An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday.
Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed.
Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed.
Photo: CNA
Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and gave them “peace crackers.”
The airline in a statement on its Web site said that all scheduled flights to and from Dubai have been suspended until 11:59pm today (UAE time) due to airspace closures across the region.
“Emirates continues to operate a limited number of passenger repatriation and freighter flights on March 3 and March 4,” it said. “We are accommodating customers with earlier bookings as a priority on these limited flights.”
“Please do not go to the airport unless you have been notified directly by Emirates or hold a confirmed booking for these flights,” the airline said, adding that it would continue to monitor the situation and develop its schedule accordingly.
Travelers are advised to check flight statuses on the Emirates’ Web site, review the latest operational updates on emirates.com, and check their e-mail for notifications about flight changes or cancelations before traveling to the airport.
The Taoyuan airport’s Web site showed that two Etihad Airways’ flights to and from Abu Dhabi yesterday were canceled.
Etihad Airways said that all flights scheduled before 6pm today have been canceled as well.
As of Tuesday, 1,240 Taiwanese traveling in Europe and the Middle East were unable to return as scheduled due to the conflict in the Middle East, including 1,140 scheduled to transit via Dubai, the Tourism Administration said yesterday.
So far, 183 Taiwanese have been reported stranded in Dubai, the agency said
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that most of the Taiwanese stranded in the Middle East were in the UAE, adding that it is aware that airport authorities in Dubai and Abu Dhabi have allowed departures of a limited number of flights.
Taiwanese in Oman, Saudi Arabia or Jordan should leave as soon as possible, as the airspace in those countries was open, the ministry said.
As UAE has limited open airspace, business travelers there are advised to leave by boarding Emirates flights when services resume, the ministry said.
Because the border between the UAE and Oman is open and Taiwanese do not need a visa to enter Oman, the Commercial Office of Taipei Office in Dubai can assist Taiwanese who wish to return home on flights departing from Oman instead, the ministry said.
As Israel’s airspace is closed, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Tel Aviv would help Taiwanese travel to Jordan through land services and board flights to Europe or Southeast Asian nations from there, it said.
Taiwanese seeking to leave Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iran or Iraq can contact Taiwan’s representative offices in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Dubai or Jordan, it said.
The ministry has put up a special page on its Web site (https://www.mofa.gov.tw/theme.aspx?n=7174&sms=69&s=157) for people seeking updated information on the Middle East.
People seeking further information can contact the Dubai office at +971-506-453-018; the Tel Aviv office at +972-544-275-204; the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Saudi Arabia at +966-114-881-900; the Taipei Trade Office in Bahrain at +973-1729-2578; the Taipei Commercial Representative Office in Kuwait at +965-533-9988; the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Jordan at +962-795-552-605; or the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Oman at +968-9944-9875, the page says.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
RSS