Tainan Airport has obtained the green light from the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) to open to international flights, starting with routes to and from Asian countries, the CAA said yesterday.
Approval came after lawmakers from Tainan strongly urged the transportation authorities to allow the airport to offer international flights to boost utilization and -enhance the airport’s revenue.
However, no date has been set for the airport to begin handling international flights.
The CAA and other related government agencies will carry out further inspections of the airport’s facilities for implementation of customs, immigration, quarantine and security checks (CIQS) next week, before deciding when the new services will begin.
Vice Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Kuang-shih (葉匡時) will visit the airport today to supervise the inspections and examine the installation of the CIQS facilities.
Yeh said the ministry would lend its full support transforming Tainan Airport into an international airport.
Currently, Tainan Airport provides only two flights to the Kinmen Islands and three flights to Penghu daily.
Flights from Tainan to other cities in Taiwan were previously available, but ended as a result of falling demand after the high speed rail started operations.
As the airport is not included in an agreement on direct air links across the Taiwan Strait, Yeh said, Taiwan and China need further negotiations before it can be permitted to provide services to Chinese cities.
Under the cross-strait airline accord, a total of eight airports in Taiwan are allowed to provide flights to China.
They are: Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taipei Songshan Airport, Kaohsiung International Airport, Taichung Airport, Hualien Airport, Taitung Airport, Kinmen Airport and Magong Airport (Penghu).
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