People planning to travel during the holiday season may want to wait until next week to book their flights because the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) has announced that the aviation fuel surcharge for international flights is to be lowered on Sunday amid the continued decline of oil prices.
CAA air transport division director Han Chen-hua (韓振華) said that the aviation fuel charge is to be dropped from US$20 to US$15 per flight segment for short-distance flights, while that for long-distance flights is to be lowered from US$52 per segment to US$39 per segment.
Han said that a similar airfare adjustment could soon be enforced on domestic flights as well because fuel prices are about to slide to the threshold allowing the government to readjust domestic flight prices.
Han said the government can activate the mechanism to lower domestic flight ticket prices when the average fuel price over three consecutive months hits NT$21.74 per liter. The average fuel price in the past three months has dropped to NT$21.86 per liter.
He said the mechanism to lower the ticket price of domestic flights could be activated next month if oil prices continue to fall, adding that there would be cheaper tickets in March after domestic flight carriers calculate the percentage of decrease for different air routes due to the variance in operational costs.
Meanwhile, Han said domestic carriers had agreed to extend the implementation of “early-bird” discounts for travelers on off-peak flights until the end of next month, rather than the end of this month. Han said the airlines agreed to increase the number of seats that can be purchased at discount prices as well. Thirty percent of tickets are available for sale at a discount of 30 percent or lower, while 15 percent can be bought at a discount of between 35 and 50 percent.
Different domestic airlines also plan to offer various discounts for off-peak travelers between Feb. 13 and Feb. 24.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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