https://focustaiwan.tw/business/202008300009
Travel agency plans to bring back Taipei-Kaohsiung flight
08/30/2020 05:35 PM
Mandarin Airlines' plane (front, with blue tail) that operated the final flight between Taipei and Kaohsiung is pictured at Taipei Songshan Airport. CNA photo Aug. 31, 2012
Aug. 30 (CNA) People may get a chance to fly directly between Taipei Songshan Airport and Kaohsiung International Airport for the first time in eight years, if a planned domestic tour package draws enough interest, a local tour operator said Sunday.
Hsieh Ming-hsiu (謝明秀), who runs a travel agency in Kaohsiung, told CNA her company is planning a three-day tour package that takes travelers from Taipei to Kaohsiung for a visit to the city and Kenting in neighboring Pingtung County during the Oct. 10 National Day long weekend.
Hsieh said her company is negotiating with a local carrier to charter a 158-seat Boeing 737-800 to operate the flight, and if enough people book the tour, it will formally apply to the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) to give it the go ahead.
According to the CAA, domestic charter flights are only allowed if there are no scheduled flights on the particular route.
The planned tour package comes at a time of huge demand for domestic tourism because of the limitations on overseas travel, including border and quarantine restrictions in many countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Songshan-Kaohsiung route was once one of the most traveled routes in the world, with a flight every 10 minutes at the peak of its popularity.
But airlines faced strong competition after Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. began service in 2007, cutting the time for rail travel between the two cities to under two hours.
By 2012, air service on the route had dwindled to three round-trip flights per week, which were usually less than half full, and Mandarin Airlines, a subsidiary of China Airlines, operated the final flight on Aug. 31, 2012.
(By Wang Shu-fen and Kay Liu)