Taiwanese carriers including Starlux Airlines (TWSE: 2646), Tigerair Taiwan (TWSE: 6757), EVA Air (TWSE: 2618) and China Airlines (TWSE: 2610) have cancelled or delayed flights scheduled for October 24 as Typhoon Champi passes the island, Focus Taiwan reported late on October 23.
The disruption reaches well beyond international routes to Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia. Domestic airlines are suspending services to outlying islands, and maritime authorities have halted six ferry routes, two of them crossings to Fuzhou in mainland China.
Starlux has scrapped its Taoyuan service to Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, according to its website on the evening of October 23. It has also dropped return services linking Taipei with Shimojishima and with Naha in Okinawa, and cancelled every flight in and out of Taichung. Departures from Taoyuan to Clark in the Philippines, Kobe in Japan and Ho Chi Minh City's Tan Son Nhat International Airport face significant delays.
Tigerair Taiwan meanwhile has cancelled a large share of its Japan network for the day, covering services to Okinawa, Ishigaki, Okayama, Sapporo and Fukuoka.
Flights to Tokyo's Narita and Haneda airports and to Osaka's Kansai Airport are also affected. The low-cost carrier has called off its flights between Taiwan and Jeju in South Korea. Other routes will run late, among them services to Nagoya, Sendai, Kochi, Oita, Seoul's Incheon Airport, Busan, Phuket and Da Nang.
EVA Air said it would cancel some flights at Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei Songshan Airport until noon. China Airlines told travellers that flights at every airport in Taiwan up to midday could depart early, run late or be cancelled. Both carriers asked passengers to look up current flight details before setting off.
On domestic routes, Uni Air will cancel flights at Songshan and Taichung before 4 p.m. and at Chiayi, Tainan and Kaohsiung before 1 p.m. It will also cancel all services to Matsu. Mandarin Airlines will cut some flights connecting Songshan, Taichung and Kaohsiung with Kinmen, Penghu, Matsu, Taitung and Hualien.
The Maritime and Port Bureau said ferries between Keelung and Matsu, Nangan and Fuzhou, Beigan and Fuzhou, Donggang and Xiaoliuqiu, Yanpu and Xiaoliuqiu, and Fugang and Green Island will not operate at all on October 24.