Fuel surcharges for short and long-haul international aviation routes would rise dramatically from Tuesday next week due to a surge in crude oil prices, the Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday.
Fuel surcharges for Taiwanese carriers would increase by US$27.50 for short-haul routes and US$71.50 for long-haul routes, CAA Director-General Ho Shu-ping (何淑萍) told a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Transportation Committee.
That would raise the surcharges on short-haul routes to US$45 and US$117 for long-haul routes, the CAA said in a statement.
Photo: Huang Yi-ching, Taipei Times
The new fuel surcharges represent a 157 percent increase.
Since the US and Israel attacked Iran at the end of February, which led to Tehran closing the Strait of Hormuz, Brent crude oil prices have jumped more than 60 percent.
For domestic routes, ticket prices would go up an average of NT$97 to cover additional fuel costs, Ho said.
However, the Civil Aviation Operation Fund would absorb part of the hike for routes between Taiwan proper and its outlying islands.
There are no fuel surcharges on domestic routes, but fares could rise to cover higher fuel costs when state-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) raises fuel prices for three months in a row, Ho said.
Ho did not indicate when the hikes for domestic routes would start.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) said the surge in fuel prices has put financial pressure on local airlines, and the fuel surcharge hikes aim to ease that pressure.
Fuel prices account for about 40 percent of airlines’ operating costs, according to market estimates.
The CAA said it has instructed local carriers to disclose information about the fuel surcharge hikes in an appropriate manner to passengers, travel agencies, cargo shippers and cargo owners to avoid unnecessary disputes.
China Airlines (中華航空) president Kevin Chen (陳漢銘) said that temporary adjustments to fuel surcharges due to oil price fluctuations are necessary, adding that the airline has prepared in advance and hopes to avoid flight reductions or cancelations.
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
FIRST TRIAL: Ko’s lawyers sought reduced bail and other concessions, as did other defendants, but the bail judge denied their requests, citing the severity of the sentences Former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was yesterday sentenced to 17 years in prison and had his civil rights suspended for six years over corruption, embezzlement and other charges. Taipei prosecutors in December last year asked the Taipei District Court for a combined 28-year, six-month sentence for the four cases against Ko, who founded the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The cases were linked to the Core Pacific City (京華城購物中心) redevelopment project and the mismanagement of political donations. Other defendants convicted on separate charges included Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇), who was handed a 15-year, six-month sentence; Core Pacific
J-6 REMODEL: The converted drones are part of Beijing’s expanding mix of airpower weapons, including bombers with stand-off missiles and UAV swarms, the report said China has stationed obsolete supersonic fighters converted to attack drones at six air bases close to the Taiwan Strait, a report published this month by the Arlington, Virginia-based Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies said. Satellite imagery of the airfields from the institute’s “China Airpower Tracker” shows what appear to be lines of stubby, swept-winged aircraft matching the shape of J-6 fighters that first flew with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force in the 1960s. Since their conversion to drones, the aircraft have been identified at five bases in China’s Fujian Province and one in Guangdong Province, the report said. J.
RSS