Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Kuang-shih (葉匡時) said yesterday that the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) is seeking to increase the number of cross-strait flights as a way to lower ticket prices.
“Tickets to some Chinese cities are in high demand, and it is true that the prices of those tickets do not drop much,” Yeh said.
He said the ministry is hoping to talk with China about the possibility of increasing the number of flights to reduce prices.
However, Yeh rejected proposals to use an administrative order to force domestic carriers to lower ticket prices, saying that scalpers would thrive if the government intervened.
Yeh said ticket prices for cross-strait flights have fallen across the board in the last month.
He said that 30-day advance tickets from Songshan to Shanghai, for example, were about 17 percent cheaper.
Three-month advance tickets had also dropped by 15.9 percent. Yeh made the comments at the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday, where he was scheduled to brief lawmakers about the proposed amendment to the Shipping Act (船舶法).
However, some legislators grilled Yeh over cross-strait tickets. The Consumers’ Foundation released a report on Tuesday showing that tickets for regular cross-strait flights were not necessarily cheaper than those of cross-strait charter flights, even though more flights are now available and the routes are shorter.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) presented to the press a list of comments Minister Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) and other government officials had made about the convenience regular flights would bring to travelers and the substantial profits they would bring domestic carriers. They also had said that the prices of cross-strait flight tickets had “wiggle room.”
Yeh Yi-jin did not accept Yeh Kuang-shih’s explanation.
“By convenience, it should be that I can buy cheap tickets any time, not 30 days or three months in advance,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) confirmed yesterday that it is scheduled to meet this month with aviation officials in China to negotiate cross-strait flights, but the time has not been determined.
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