Taipei: Taiwan's Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) has granted permission to Mandarin Airlines to reduce the number of flights on two key routes to Hualien amidst declining passenger demand. However, the CAA has stopped short of approving the airline's request to completely suspend these services.

According to Focus Taiwan, Mandarin Airlines initially sought to halt operations on its Kaohsiung-Hualien and Taichung-Hualien routes. After reviewing the application, the CAA requested further information from the airline and urged them to consider the transportation needs of Hualien before making any final decisions on the service suspension.

In response, Mandarin Airlines proposed a measured approach by reducing flight frequency when passenger bookings are low, rather than suspending the routes entirely. The CAA has agreed with this approach in principle, allowing Mandarin Airlines to redeploy aircraft to busier domestic routes while still maintaining air connectivity to Hualien.

The airline has yet to submit a formal application regarding the extent of these flight reductions, which remains undecided, according to the CAA. Mandarin Airlines Chairman Chen Ta-chun has indicated that the airline might cut its Kaohsiung-Hualien service from seven flights to five per week, while maintaining three weekly flights on the Taichung-Hualien route. Should the average load factor on either route drop below 20 percent, further reductions could be implemented.

Chen emphasized that this strategy would provide Mandarin Airlines with the flexibility to allocate resources to higher-demand routes while keeping the option open to restore flights to Hualien if demand improves or if other transportation options are disrupted.

Meanwhile, the CAA continues to evaluate an application from Uni Air, submitted in June, to suspend its Taipei-Hualien service. Despite a general recovery in Taiwan's aviation market post-COVID-19, passenger demand on routes serving Hualien remains weak. CAA statistics reveal that average load factors between 2023 and 2025 were just 36 percent on the Taipei-Hualien route, 37 percent on the Kaohsiung-Hualien route, and 44 percent on the Taichung-Hualien route, all below the 50 percent threshold, putting financial strain on airlines operating these routes.