The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) yesterday said debt-ridden Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT) had applied to carry out test flights in preparation for a resumption of flight services after a hiatus of more than two years.
FAT, whose flight operations have been suspended since May 2008 because of financial difficulties and employee wage disputes, is scheduled to launch a test flight tomorrow, the CAA said.
The carrier has applied for corporate reorganization.
Airworthiness maintenance work and the preparation of one of its planes, an MD80, is nearing completion, the CAA said.
However, the resumption of test flights does not necessarily mean that FAT will restart operations soon, a ranking CAA official said, adding that the carrier would need an injection of capital to resume service.
According to CAA regulations, NT$500 million (US$16.66 million) in capital is required for the resumption of domestic routes and NT$2 billion for the resumption of international flights.
FAT plans to resume domestic flight services first — most likely on the routes between Taipei and Kaohsiung or between Kaohsiung and the outlying island of Kinmen — and then expand to cross-strait routes, the CAA official said.
The airline reportedly had debts of more than NT$10 billion when it sought bankruptcy protection in February 2008, in the biggest crisis the company had faced since it was founded in 1957.
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