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.
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