Taiwan set to seal open skies deal with Japan

Taiwan will soon sign an open skies agreement with Japan to liberalize commercial aviation services between the two countries, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced Wednesday.

Under the agreement, all Taiwanese air carriers can apply to operate scheduled services to 10 Japanese destinations except for Tokyo, and there will not be any restrictions on the number of flights allowed, according to the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) under the ministry.

Besides Tokyo, the Japanese destinations that maintain scheduled flights with Taiwan are Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Sapporo, Sendai, Hiroshima, Komatsu, Miyazaki and Okinawa.

At present, only two Taiwanese air carriers -- China Airlines and EVA Airways -- are allowed to run scheduled flights to Japan, with the flight numbers totaling 189 per week. Chartered services are open to all six Taiwanese carriers, with 20-27 flights provided per week on average.

CAA officials explained that Tokyo is excluded from the open skies deal mainly because there is an agreement between Narita International Airport and local residents to restrict the number of flights in and out of the airport, making an increase of flights to Tokyo unlikely.

Japan will be the third country to establish an open skies agreement with Taiwan after the United States and Singapore.

The officials said although the agreement will boost the potential for more flights to Japan, any increases are not expected in the short term given the fact that Taiwanese air carriers have shifted their focus to the Chinese market in recent years.

Sharing a similar view, Chen Shu-chuang, chairman of Spunk Tour Travel Agency, said the liberalization will carry a more symbolic significance than a substantive one.

It makes no difference whether the scheduled flight services are opening up now that all Taiwanese carriers can operate chartered flights to Japan, Chen said.

Moreover, he said, the demand for Japan travel has dwindled following the appreciation of the Japanese currency.