Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday.
The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia.
The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists.
Photo courtesy of the Taitung County Government
Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the Malaysian visitors back to Kuala Lumpur the same night.
Taitung County Commissioner Yao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴) said in a statement that her team held intensive discussions with travel agencies in Malaysia to plan the charter flight services to boost the visibility of both areas’ tourism markets.
The charter flight services are expected to significantly shorten travel time for tourists in Taitung and Malaysia, providing a transportation option that offers considerable convenience, Yao said.
Taitung Transportation and Tourism Development Department Deputy Director Hung Kuo-chin (洪國欽) led a delegation to Malaysia in June to visit tourism representatives and present the charter flight plan, the county government said.
During his stay, Hung signed a memorandum of understanding with Malaysian Chinese Tourism Association National president Patrick Law (劉偉康) to pave the way for the charter flights, and a long-term cooperation mechanism was established, it said.
The flights are part of Taitung’s efforts to boost international exchanges and give overseas visitors a better understanding of the county’s beautiful landscape and diverse cultures, it said.
The charter flight services to Malaysia would be the third in a series from Taitung to and from Southeast Asian countries this year, after flights were arranged to and from Vietnam and Thailand.
On Saturday next week, a round-trip charter flight would depart from Taitung for Ho Chi Minh City, and another would travel to Chiang Mai, Thailand, in October, the county government said.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
RSS