My GF told me yesterday that the direct flight thing was all a big ole con, is this true? Apparently it was just to make Ma look good for a bit when in reality they are not actually doing that anymore (or as regularly -or something?!)
Can anyone shed light on this as my GF wasn’t very forthcoming…
Flights still have to go through Hong Kong airspace so aren’t really that direct. Is that it?
Not a con at all, they do it. Unfortunately they don’t cater to foreigners though. Only the locals, only on weekends and only tour groups. Ma said he would do it and came through, on time as well. As far as going through Hong Kong airspace, I’ve not heard this and it doesn’t make any sense.
Yes, the flights still have to go through HK airspace, although that part of the “direct” aspect was negotiated LONG before Ma’s administration ever came to power. Blame those dirty DPP bastards for that one.
Yep. “Non-stop flight” would be more correct.
Its not exactly a con, but my recent experience was that:
Dale at Whose Travel said to be patient, that when they started Taichung to HK flights a year ago there were 3 flights a week now there are 5 a day.
Yes give it some time. There will be daily scheduled flights soon and we will get the mainland large groups soon enough.
We will soon be complaining mainlanders are taking over all the good scenic spots. Alishan and SM lake will be for Mainlanders only practically?? And perhaps Kenting too?
Ma is already working on eliminating the need to go through Hong Kong on these flights so they’ll become true direct flights. I don’t know when it’s going to happen but the two sides are definitely working on it. It obviously doesn’t make sense to have to loop the flights through Hong Kong, but there’s opposition from Taiwan’s military for some reason.
Well the military is always conservative. And for good reason perhaps?
Actually I think they are working on a route that sort of flies close to Cheju island for Shanghai and Peking destinations and close to HK airspace for the southern Chinese airports.
They will sort it out I am certain.
once Ma accepts the flights as domestic, they will come direct…
Except of working on eliminating Taiwan, what this incompetent loser is doing else? :liar:
As other posters said the flights are pretty much only on the weekend and they have the inconvenience of flying thru HK airspace restriction. However I think it’s a temporary measure and once that restriction is released and they work out a format for scheduled direct fllights that will be a very substantial advance. Hopefully with schedule and real direct flights prices will come down and it will give a boost to the economy regarding business and tourism and give us a chance to hop over to China and when we want. Ma is not doing a whole lot for the country but if he can do this as his only big acheivement in 4 year terms it’s still a concrete success (in comparison to 8 years of chaos under DPP). Taiwanese tend to be negative if results don’t come in quickly and of course views are always coloured by their party affiliations. I’m not sure if foreigners are allowed to take those flights yet.
headhoncho, Ma has done far more to the dismantle Taiwan’s sovereignty than Chen ever did, so from that point of view he has been a raging success.
Direct flights will have a very very small effect on the economy as everyone should know. The real issue is cargo flights. If we get these, we will have gotten somewhere.
China is going to make sure that their arilines benefit most from any flights which leaves us with the small economic boost from professional Taiwanese returning home more often to spend money. Woopee.
As for tourists, that again depends on the Chinese. There is no reason we shouldn’t have 3000 tourists a day right now. It has nothing to do with whether the flights go over HK air space or not.
The Ma gov made a lot of promises that should and could have a positive effect on our economy had they been fulfilled. Unfortunately they all depended on Chinese cooperation. It seems no one in Ma’s team realized that this was a variable.
Yes, millions more Taiwanese hopping over to China will have a very positive effect on our economy. 
Foreigners are very much allowed on these flights. If I was in TAipei, Id love to jump on a plane non stop to Shanghai and the next time to Beijing. Thats pretty cool in my book.
I think soon the flights will be scheduled and daily. Now its 4 days a week ,not much different then 7 days a week.
Thing is, the flights are heavily pro Sungshan and TPE. Not a whole lot of airlines want to fly to KHH or RMQ it seems. Or Hualien or Taitung either.
In fact there was some calling at one point that Sungshan should be the main flight center to and from China. At least for smaller jets anyway since the big jets dont go there anymore.
I am sure within the year, Shanghai and other north China destinations will go close to cheju island while southern Chinese flights will use HK airspace per current.
Songshan is a terrible idea. Not only will it increase air and noise pollution in the city but it puts national security at risk.
Get the frickin’ MRT to Taoyuan airport built asap.
Really, how? How has Ma dismantled Taiwan’s sovereignty? Did he allow Chinese officials to run the island? Did Taipei lose any governance of Taiwan? I haven’t seen it.
I guess you must have meant those little political symbolisms. Like Ma calling himself “Mr.”, direct flights, etc. Frankly, I don’t really understand how some people thinks Taiwan can lose it’s “sovereignty” if, say, the Olympic torch passes from Taiwan to Hong Kong, or if Taiwan accepts TuanTuan and YuanYuan(those two pandas). This is rather strange indeed. But then it appears to make sense when you realize that Taiwan having good relations with China isn’t conducive to TI. There’s apparently a ideology to be pursued by CSB and people in his camp, even if it means isolating Taiwan and let the economy go into the toilet. No wonder they got ran from office.
Pragmatism gets things done in cross strait issues, it’s no wonder Ma has achieved more in this in a a few months than CSB has in eight years. For me, I’ll take good cross strait relations and good economy over those stupid symbolisms any day of the week.
Actually best is to redevelop Sungshan into a Central Park of TAipei and have all China flights land at RMQ. Because the tourists all want to visit Alishan and Sun Moon Lake, and those are near RMQ. And besides they can use the HSR to visit Taipei and Kaohsiung areas. Tour buses can meet their trains as they train around Taiwan.
RMQ being centrally located and able to expand should really be more developed.
Their visits should all start and finish at RMQ. The runway is big enough for the big jets.
Sungshan should stop being an airport period.
Except of working on eliminating Taiwan, what this incompetent loser is doing else? :liar:[/quote]
Would someone explain the reason for looping cross strait flights through Hong Kong. For the life of me I don’t know why they don’t just fly straight. Does it make sense to loop flights to Tokyo through Hanoi? I remember there was an issue of whether to call these flights demestic or international, but now direct flights have taken place, what’s the reason for still having to fly to Hong Kong? I don’t get it.
[quote=“Mucha Man”]
As for tourists, that again depends on the Chinese. There is no reason we shouldn’t have 3000 tourists a day right now. It has nothing to do with whether the flights go over HK air space or not.[/quote]
Not with the flights, but restrictions, such as having to come and travel as groups might turn off some people. The mainland tourists situation doesn’t entirely depend on China, Taiwan has some of the responsibiliy.