Apex Flight Academy yesterday announced that it is branching out into the general aviation service market, adding that its airline is scheduled to begin operations next year after completing the required certification review.
The nation’s first and only flight training school in March secured the Civil Aeronautics Administration’s (CAA) approval to establish an office in preparation for the launch of Apex Aviation, a new airline offering domestic flights.
Since March, the company has been undergoing a five-stage certification review as per the Regulations of Civil Air Transport Enterprise (民用航空運輸業管理規則), it said.
Photo courtesy of Hualien County Government
The company’s first aircraft, a Tecnam P2012 Traveller, also landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday.
“With the arrival of our first aircraft, we are about to enter stage four of the review. We expect to complete the review by the beginning of next year and start the business afterward,” Apex said.
The twin-engine utility aircraft, which is designed and manufactured by Italian firm Costruzioni Aeronautiche Tecnam, passed safety certifications by the US Federal Aviation Administration and the EU Aviation Safety Agency, the company said.
The cost of building a Tecnam P2012 Traveller is more than NT$110 million (US$3.96 million), it said, adding that Apex Aviation is the first Asian buyer of the aircraft.
The aircraft would initially be used to offer air tours of the East-Rift Valley spanning Hualien to Taitung counties, the coastline along the East Coast, and Green Island and Orchid Island, the company said.
“We hope that the air tours we provide will not only help boost the growth of the local tourism industry, but help market the scenic attractions to the world and draw more tourists from overseas,” Apex Flight Academy chairman Wilson Kao (高健祐) said.
In other news, the CAA recorded 13 breaches of civil aviation regulations committed by drone operators and eight by paramotor users from January to last month.
Of the 13 cases involving drones, four did not file applications in advance and were fined NT$1.64 million in total, CAA Deputy Director-General Clark Lin (林俊良) said.
Drone operators in the other nine cases were granted permission to fly their craft, but were fined for various reasons, from failing to follow the preapproved flight plans to flying drones without notifying air traffic controllers and airport terminals ahead of time, Lin said.
Of the eight cases involving paramotors, one is being handled by the Ministry of National Defense for trespassing in a military zone in September and breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), he said.
In the middle of last month, a policeman was found to have illegally paraglided around a high-voltage tower in Taichung, Lin added.
People contravening the drone regulations can be fined between NT$10,000 and NT$1.5 million, while illegal paragliders can be fined between NT$60,000 and NT$300,000, Lin said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is aware that Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong has weakened any possible sentiment for a “one country, two systems” arrangement for Taiwan, and has instructed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) politburo member Wang Huning (王滬寧) to develop new ways of defining cross-strait relations, Japanese news magazine Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday. A former professor of international politics at Fu Dan University, Wang is expected to develop a dialogue that could serve as the foundation for cross-strait unification, and Xi plans to use the framework to support a fourth term as president, Nikkei Asia quoted an anonymous source
A senior US senator on Monday questioned the willingness of some US allies to help defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. Although Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) expects the US and Japan to respond in a war in the Taiwan Strait, he was “a little less confident what our other allies would do,” US Senator John Cornyn said. Australia and New Zealand have voiced support for Taiwan, but it “is a far cry from committing troops to repel an invasion,” Cornyn said during a discussion on China, Russia and the state of US military readiness at a forum hosted
TOURISM BOOST: The transportation system could help attract more visitors to the area, as the line is to connect multiple cultural sites, a city councilor said Residents in New Taipei City’s Ankeng District (安坑) said the local light rail system might have a positive influence, but raised questions about its practicality. The Ankeng light rail system, which is to commence operations after the Lunar New Year holiday, would cut travel time for commuters from Ankeng to downtown Taipei or New Taipei City by 15 to 20 minutes, the city government said. According to the initial plan, there would be one train every 15 minutes during peak time and additional interval trains would run between the densely populated Ankang Station (安康) and Shisizhang Station (十 四張). To encourage people to
CHAMPION TREES: The team used light detection and ranging imaging to locate the tree, and found that it measured a height of 84.1m and had a girth of 8.5m A team committed to finding the tallest trees in the nation yesterday said that an 84.1m tall Taiwania cryptomerioides tree had been named the tallest tree in Taiwan and East Asia. The Taiwan Champion Trees, a team consisting of researchers from the Council of Agriculture’s Taiwan Forestry Research Institute and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), in June last year used light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imaging to find the giant tree, numbered 55214, upstream of the Daan River (大安溪). A 20-member expedition team led by Rebecca Hsu (徐嘉君), an assistant researcher at the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, set out to find the
RSS