Starlux Airlines yesterday announced that it would in April launch direct flights to Kobe, Japan, from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taichung International Airport, making it the first Taiwanese airline to offer services to the popular travel destination.
The flights would use Airbus A321neo aircraft, it said.
Starting on April 18, three round-trip flights would be launched between Taipei and Kobe per week in the initial phase, while seven round-trip flights would be launched from Taichung per week, it said.
Photo: CNA
Tickets went on sale yesterday.
To celebrate the launch of the routes, Starlux said it would dispatch additional flights on April 18 between Taoyuan and Kobe.
The new routes were created as travelers around the world are expected to flock to Japan’s Kansai area when the World Expo opens in Osaka City in April, it said.
The expo is scheduled to run from April 13 to Oct. 13.
Kobe Airport’s international terminal is also scheduled to begin operations on April 18, it added.
As an important port in Japan, Kobe is widely known as a “dessert city” in Japan. It also has a variety of tourist destinations in the region, such as the Arima Onsen hot springs, a town famous for its gold and silver springs, and Awaji Island, which attracts countless tourists with its magnificent natural landscape and unique cuisine, it said.
Kobe is also close to the Keihan area, and is an important hub connecting Kansai and the world, Starlux said.
It offers quick access to the World Expo venue and allows visitors to avoid the crowds, Starlux said.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper