Taiwan is mulling retaliatory action against airlines it says submitted to Chinese demands over the ‘One China’ policy.
Taiwan’s ministry of transportation and communications has reportedly come up with a series of punitive measures to make ‘blacklisted’ airlines pay for buckling to China’s demands.
Higher airport fees, moving landing slots to less favourable times and making passengers board and disembark without jet bridges are being considered.
Taiwan’s civil aviation authority did not confirm it but said any measures that may be taken have not yet been finalised.
It would affect virtually every foreign carrier that flies to Taiwan with home grown airlines like EVA Airways and China Airlines gaining a clear advantage.
Dozens of airlines were forced to change their listing of Taiwan as a separate territory to ‘Taiwan, China.’
Nearly all complied before the deadline under threat of having their operations curtailed in China.
The retaliatory measures would only be ‘self-destructive’ with Taiwanese travellers mostly affected, according to aviation stakeholders, which would undoubtedly lead to less customer choice once carriers start pulling out.
