No plans to further reduce flights: Mandarin Airlines
By Jake Chung / Staff writer, with CNA
Mandarin Airlines chairman Chen Ta-chun (陳大鈞) said that there are no further plans to reduce flights after the airline cut its Kaohsiung-Hualien route from seven to five weekly, while adding that a Kaohsiung-Taipei route “could be possible.”
Starting this month, flights on the Kaohsiung-Hualien route have been reduced due to low passenger loads, while the Taitung-Hualien route would maintain three flights a week, the airline said.
Speaking at a news conference at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) during which the company announced its collaborations with the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra (NTSO), Chen thanked the Civil Aviation Administration for approving the airline’s application to reduce flights.
Mandarin Airlines planes are pictured at Kinmen Airport on Feb. 1, last year.
Photo: Wu Cheng-ting, Taipei Times
Starting tomorrow, Mandarin Airlines’ flights would be authorized to play NTSO performances of Taiwanese folk songs aboard their flights.
Chen said that passenger load factors for Hualien-bound flights remained at 20 to 30 percent and have not increased despite the airline’s reduction in total flights.
Although the airline’s operations are still in the red, the measures have effectively dulled losses from overhead, Chen said.
Planes relieved of the Kaohsiung-Hualien flights would be directed to transporting passengers to outlying islands, such as the Kaohsiung-Penghu route, Chen said.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) said that rail would serve as the main mode of transportation in eastern Taiwan, adding that a well-developed rail network would weaken the competitiveness of air travel.
In eastern Taiwan, a Taiwan Railway EMU3000 train can carry 538 passengers, compared with about 70 on an aircraft, meaning one train could carry about the same number of passengers as eight flights, Chen said.
He cited western Taiwan as an example, saying the introduction of high-speed rail had reduced demand for the Taipei-Kaohsiung and Taipei-Taichung air routes.
Separately, commenting on calls to reinstate Taipei-Kaohsiung flights as a result of surging crowds over the Mid-Autumn Festival and Teachers’ Day holidays, Chen Ta-chun said airline companies are not hidebound and that if a route was lucrative: “No one would shy from it.”
Chen Ta-chun said that airlines planning to operate charter flights on the Taipei-Kaohsiung route would need time to formulate plans.
He also suggested a mechanism for canceling flights with low passenger occupancy, such as notifying passengers at least one month in advance if a flight is to be canceled because of insufficient bookings.
Chen Shih-kai said that the Ministry of Transportation and Communications respects the airline industry’s assessment of restarting the Taipei-Kaohsiung route.
If airlines believe that the route would be competitive during long holidays, the ministry would welcome its resumption, he said.
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