Taiwan and Italy yesterday signed a new aviation pact that would increase the number of direct flights to cities in the southern European nation from seven to 19 per week.
The revised air transport services agreement was signed by Civil Aviation Administration Director-General Ho Shu-ping (何淑萍) and Italian Civil Aviation Authority President Pierluigi Umberto di Palma in Taipei yesterday.
Based on the revised pact, two-way passenger traffic would be greatly expanded from 14 flights per week to 38 flights per week. Aside from Rome and Milan, Venice is to be added as a new destination for direct flights.
Photo courtesy of the Civil Aviation Administration
Of the three cargo flights per week, two could fly an extended flight to a third destination in accordance with the fifth freedom of the air, effectively increasing flexibility in airline operators’ arrangement of passenger and cargo services.
China Airlines currently offers three weekly flights to Rome, while EVA Air provides four flights to Milan per week. The average passenger load factor was 81 percent last year, administration data showed.
Tourism Administration data last year showed that the number of visitors between Taiwan and Italy exceeded 70,000, an increase of more than 20 percent compared with the same period the previous year.
The new aviation service agreement would further help airlines increase flights according to market demand, improve the convenience of people traveling between Taiwan and Italy, and promote exchanges in trade, tourism and culture between the two countries, the Civil Aviation Administration said.
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
The Taipei City Government yesterday confirmed that it has negotiated a royalties of NT$12.2 billion (US$380 million) with artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia Corp, with the earliest possible signing date set for Wednesday next week. The city has been preparing for Nvidia to build its Taiwan headquarters in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park since last year, and the project has now entered its final stage before the contract is signed. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city government has completed the royalty price negotiations and would now push through the remaining procedures to sign the contract before
Taipei Zoo welcomes the Lunar New Year this year through its efforts to protect an endangered species of horse native to central Asia that was once fully extinct outside of captivity. The festival ushering in the Year of the Horse would draw attention to the zoo’s four specimens of Przewalski’s horse, named for a Russian geographer who first encountered them in the late 19th century across the steppes of western Mongolia. “Visitors will look at the horses and think that since this is the Year of the Horse: ‘I want to get to know horses,’” said zookeeper Chen Yun-chieh, who has been
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said the name of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania was agreed by both sides, after Lithuania’s prime minister described a 2021 decision to let Taiwan set up a de facto embassy in Vilnius as a “mistake.” Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, who entered office in September last year, told the Baltic News Service on Tuesday that Lithuania had begun taking “small first steps” aimed at restoring ties with Beijing. The ministry in a statement said that Taiwan and Lithuania are important partners that share the values of freedom and democracy. Since the establishment of the
RSS