Taiwan News  
Date: 2019/05/19
By:  Central News Agency

(Wikipedia photo)

Last-minute flight cancellations on May 17 by Far Eastern Air Transport Corp. (FAT), a medium-sized international carrier in Taiwan, were a result of the carrier’s poor flight planning, constrained by its aging fleet, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said Sunday.

While FAT has complained that the cancellations were necessary after it exceeded its maximum number of flight hours of 1,350 hours per month set by the CAA, the administration said it had warned the carrier back in April that its flight hours scheduled for May could break the threshold.

The CAA said it has applied flight hours control to FAT since March 2017 due to safety concerns, as the airline has an old fleet comprising eight McDonnell Douglas (MD) aircraft that have been suffering more malfunctions in recent years.

According to the CAA, four of the aircraft are more than 26 years old, with the oldest topping 28 years, which poses serious flight safety concerns.    [FULL  STORY]