Any one been on this new jet yet? Seems to be real nice. Apparently its flying now from Taichung to and from HongKong twice a day. Id try it if I was there.
Taichung TO Hong Kong chep lap kok
fri / sun 720am dep. AE1819 EMJ Y NONSTOP 855am arrival
mon / tue/ wed / 0735 am dep AE1819 EMJ Y NONSTOP 910am arrival
thurs 740am dep. AE1819 EMJ Y NONSTOP 915am arrival
NObody? I guess hardly anyone flies out of Taichung to HK. Because so many flights available from Taoyuan and KHH. I wonder if its any cheaper? What are ticket prices these days from Taiwan to/from HK? From KHH , Taoyuan and Taichung. Anyone know?
why does Taichung merit an international airport? especially as there are a) not many punters and b) another two far larger airports less than 2 hours in either direction.
[quote=“urodacus”]why does Taichung merit an international airport? especially as there are a) not many punters and b) another two far larger airports less than 2 hours in either direction.
politics.[/quote]
Ssssh keep quiet, please dont tell Taiwanese how small their island really is !!! And especially with the HSR !!! They like to keep thinking that its a real big place.
And TAichung is TAiwan’s 3rd largest population center, plus they happen to have that convenient CCK airstrip around , left over from when B52 bombers could stop over on their way to bomb Vietnam.
That runway at some 12,000 feet is I think the longest runway on Taiwan. The longer the better. They can even fly 747s from them if they wanted to. BUt the airport is not geared up for that. The terminals and other facilities are not suitable as yet for large numbers.
However for such small planes as the E190, its fine. Thats a 104 seater I believe.
I haven’t flown out of RMQ, but will if it ever has flights to KIX or NRT.
The E-190 has a good rep. Stateside, feeder carriers operate it with two cabins, which has proved popular compared with the life as a sardine in the CRJ-200s and other first gen Barbie jets.
THSR runs along the side of RMQ. The route actually deviated a bit to avoid crossing the runway. It’s not hard to imagine how successful RMQ could be as an international airport. Why not build a competitor to ICN and SIN… in fact, it would be the only airport with bullet train service. AMS could claim that title, but it would require replacing about 200 km of track, which isn’t going to happen.
[quote=“maunaloa”]I haven’t flown out of RMQ, but will if it ever has flights to KIX or NRT.
The E-190 has a good rep. Stateside, feeder carriers operate it with two cabins, which has proved popular compared with the life as a sardine in the CRJ-200s and other first gen Barbie jets.
THSR runs along the side of RMQ. The route actually deviated a bit to avoid crossing the runway. It’s not hard to imagine how successful RMQ could be as an international airport. Why not build a competitor to ICN and SIN… in fact, it would be the only airport with bullet train service. AMS could claim that title, but it would require replacing about 200 km of track, which isn’t going to happen.[/quote]
Thats an idea. Maybe if someone was smart enough in the first place, Taiwan should really only have one giant airport in the form of a new RMQ and thus TPE and KHH can be replaced? As like you say, the bullet train is only like an hour north or south to the other airports?
Maybe thats an idea for the future? Develop RMQ, close TPE or freeze further development and freeze further big expansions at KHH.
There is another Mandarin E-190 parked at KHH, not in front of the terminal mind you, but way over by the cargo terminal where it’s been for some weeks now.
So either it’s broken or it’s no longer required.
Strange place to park it though…if it’s no longer needed I thought they would just park it over with all the other FAT airline planes that are quietly rusting away in the corner.
If you read the Embraer threads you will see that Mandarin has gotten something like 6 jets delivered out of an order for 8. And perhaps the jets have come faster then the routes? Just wondering.
And the FAT jets are still there? I would figure that whoever they leased them from would repo them ASAP. FAT owes more then 300 million USD and someone would want to get their hands on those jets. Probably everythings all tied up in lititation tho.
We reguarly go out to the airport cafe which is situated on the north side of the airport only 100 metres from the runway.
My son loves to watch the planes so we usually spend the whole day there.
I have seen the E 190 land and take off again a few times and even caught it on video once but that was a few months ago.
As i say the E 190 has been just sitting there the whole day the last few times we went there.
Yeah some of the FAT jets are still there, maybe they are having trouble finding takers for them.
Air traffic at KHH has dropped a lot since the HSR opened, it used to be you go there on a saturday and the planes were almost in que to land, now you can wait for an hour and see nothing.
Last week we went out there and the airforce was doing touch and go’s in a C-130 that accounted for most of the traffic that day.
It’s a shame really, it used to be great to sit right by the fence when a 747 cargo plane came in and landed, the touch down point is right in front of the cafe.
After the plane went by you felt the wind and smelt the burnt A-1 fuel and tyre rubber!
I have not seen a 747 land there for a while now.
Ya I loved to watch the planes at the airport cafe whenever I am in the area too. It used to be soo busy with flights every few minutes. In its heyday there were something like 21million passengers per year on Taiwan domestic travel. Who knows what it is now?
And if you got a window seat at the cafe it was pretty cool. Get some coffee and maybe something to eat and be entertained for an hour or two.
KHH will probably have to stress International flights now only as pretty much all domestic is going the way of the dodo bird.
Except for some flights to Penghu and 7mei and the such. Trains the way to go now inter-island.
I wouldve thought that FAT leased their planes rather then bought them. They may own one or two of the older 737 and/or MD82 though?
IF they were leased I would think the lessors wouldve wanted to get them back ASAP.
I suspect a lot of people involved with FAT are seeing each other in court now.
Got a bud flying out this way from FT Lauderdale to SFO pretty soon on Jetblues E190. I will ask him what he thinks of it. Jetblue was flying this route nonstop with an A320 but the route doesnt warrant such a big plane, so the E190 comes in handy. It must make a fuel stop at around the halfway point though, as its not capable of flying from florida nonstop to california with appreciable numbers of passengers. Even though Jetblues only seat 100 passengers while apparently Mandarin has crammed one more row of seats into theirs for a 104 seating. Maybe ok for smaller Asians?
Yes seems like the the HSR mixed with the high fuel prices have taken their toll on the industry.
My wife tells me now there is only 1 flight a week going in and out of Hengchun airport (the feeder for Kending) and the railroad does not even go there…
Hengchun now appears to have been a total white elephant. Whos bright idea was it anyway? They just love building airports on Taiwan. Its a joke even having that airport. I heard they want to turn it into some sort of park where bazaars can be held. While keeping the runway in working order in case air travel ever comes around again.
Maybe , since theres talk of opening up to private aviation, airports like hengchun can have a second life? Same with KHH and perhaps TAinan, Taitung, and Hualian. They could become centers for private aviation? Get yourself a Sirrus SR22 for bout a million bucks in Taiwan (half a mil fully equipped here in the good ol USA) and fly around for fun? Do TAitung, then Hengchun , etc. And throw in a side trip to HK?
Doesnt the southern bend railroad (from Kaohsiung to TAitung) pass near Hengchun?
Went to the airport yesterday, got this shot of the E-190, nice looking plane.
Looks like it’s in storage for a while, covers on the engine intakes and the PITOT’s,
