Issues around direct flights across Taiwan Strait are always one of the hottest topics in eastern Asia transport market. Although the direct links have not been connected yet, they are still highly concerned by different disciplines of politics, laws, and management. Airlines and related business also watch closely to these issues for policy changes will easily affect their interests in Chinese market which the future of the air transportation in eastern Asia is heavily depending on. In the past decades, Hong Kong was the most important hub in this market; it will still be an important one in the future. It is proved, however, traffic on the link between Hong Kong and Taiwan can be shifted to the link between Macau and Taiwan, so can it be shifted to the links across Taiwan Strait. Moreover, outgoing passengers from China transferred in Hong Kong can also find transit services in Taiwan. These movements will possibly cause a big change in eastern Asian air transport system for there are millions of passengers travelling in this area. The uncertainties of direct links across Taiwan Strait are still leaving, some problems unsolved. Whether the direct links will be defined as international routes or domestic' routes are not clear; the selection of hubs and airlines to provide direct services are not yet made; even the type of freedoms and bilateral agreements can also change the market and network quite a lot. A much bigger volume of passengers can also be found if further travelling deregulation for Chinese to travel across Taiwan Strait can be made. All these variables are making issues around direct flights worthy of continuous observant.
The Conference Proceedings of the 1999 Air Transport Research Group (ATRG) of the WCTR Society
Air Transportation Operations and Policy ; 1999 ; Kowloon, Hong Kong
1999-09-01
Miscellaneous
No indication
English