Travelers to the UK now have more flexibility when they plan their flights because Taiwan and the UK have agreed to increase the frequency of passenger and cargo flights between the two countries, the Civil Aeronautics Administration announced yesterday.
A new aviation pact signed by Taiwan’s Representative to the UK Katharine Chang (張小月) and British Trade and Cultural Office (BTCO) Director David Campbell on Wednesday allows Taiwanese carriers China Airlines (CAL) and EVA Airways (EVA) to service a total of 21 passenger flights to the UK each week. Flights to London will be increased from 10 to 14 per week.
The new pact also enables CAL and EVA to service seven passenger flights per week from Taipei to Manchester.
In addition, the carriers can increase the number of cargo flights to Manchester from three to 10 per week. The number of cargo flights to London will remain at three per week.
The administration said the added flights could start from March 27 next year, when the airlines announce their summer flight schedules.
Taiwan and the UK signed their first formal aviation pact in November last year, replacing a 1992 agreement signed by the Taipei Airlines Association with British Airways.
The two started negotiating a new aviation pact in June because demand for flights between two countries increased following last year’s decision by the UK to waive visa requirements for Taiwanese tourists.
CAL currently provides three non-stop passenger flights to London and three cargo flights to Manchester per week, with stopovers in New Delhi or Luxembourg.
EVA offers seven passenger flights to London via Bangkok and three cargo flights to London per week. Neither CAL nor EVA offer passenger flights to Manchester.
Civil Aeronautics Administration Director of Planning Betty Cheng (程嘉莉) said the four new flights to London would be equally distributed between CAL and EVA.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,