The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) has said that budget airline Tigerair Taiwan is qualified to participate in the operation of cross-strait air traffic rights, making it the nation’s first domestic low-cost carrier to enter the cross-strait aviation market.
Taiwan and China reached an agreement in September to increase the number of cross-strait flights from 828 per week to 848 per week.
The newly added flights are set to carry passengers to or from Changzhou Airport in China’s Jiangsu Province and Jieyang Chaoshan International Airport.
Both nations are allowed to operate three flights to or from each airport per week.
According to the CAA, the airlines that qualified for the operation of these new routes include China Airlines, EVA Airways, Uni Air, Mandarin Airlines, Far Eastern Air Transport and Tigerair Taiwan.
Tigerair Taiwan was the only low-cost carrier to make a bid for the rights to operate these new flight routes.
Despite the fierce competition, the airline said it would actively pursue the opportunity to enter the cross-strait aviation market.
Currently, China’s Spring Airlines is the only low-cost carrier offering cross-strait flights and is said to be relatively profitable with its high average occupancy rates.
The CAA said that another Taiwanese low-cost carrier, V Air, part of the TransAsia Airways group, is not eligible to participate in cross-strait flights this year due to the crash of TransAsia Airways Flight 222 on Penghu in July.
Based on the guidelines governing the operation of international flights, any airline that has had a plane crash is banned from competing for the right to operate new international flight routes within one year of the accident occurring.
The CAA added that V Air has not yet obtained its Air Operator Certificate and is therefore not qualified to operate new international flight routes.
The guidelines stipulate that many factors are taken into consideration when new flight routes are distributed, including a carrier’s aviation safety record and if it is compliant with the government’s aviation policy.
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