Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-03-07

The head of the Civil Aeronatics Association (CAA), Lin Kuo-shian, has hailed the return

to the Taiwan market of Air France and Air New Zealand. Lin said this reflects Taiwan’s importance as a regional aviation hub.

“Taiwan has a great geographical location, on average it’s two and a half hours’ flight time from here to any major city in the region. As of the end of last year, we had 602 flights a week serving 18 countries in Southeast Asia, close to 600 flights to 61 cities in mainland China, and 700 to 800 flights to Japan and South Korea. That is to say, [Taiwan] has over 1,800 flights a week serving every major destination [in the region],” Lin said.

Lin noted that Air Canada resumed flights to Taiwan last year. He said Air France is set to resume services to Taiwan in April, and Air New Zealand will follow suit in November.

Lin said that close to 45 million passengers passed through Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the country’s main gateway, last year. This was an increase of nearly 8% over the previous year.    [SOURCE]