President Surangel Whipps Jr. says that China Airlines is not taking Palau’s tourism market seriously and is “poisoning the market” by its inconsistent service. He said this in response to questions about the China Airlines flight cancellations from people with families in Taiwan.
“I think China Airlines is playing (not serious) with Palau market. They need to change their behavior, need to be invested, and think long-term about the Palau market. What they are doing is poisoning Palau’s market and it is irresponsible. For example, a person books a ticket to come to Palau as a tourist, and what happens, they cancel the flight. The flights are no longer reliable,” expressed irate President Whipps at this week’s press conference.
Comparing China Airlines with United Airlines, Whipps said that United Airlines have been consistent every week and now they will be adding a second flight a week starting December 16th.
He added that if that is what is needed, at least one consistent flight a week, then China Airlines should do that. “Seems like China Airlines is poorly run,” said Whipps.
Whipps said that Palau needs to talk with Taiwan and if China airlines can’t do the work, to put somebody else on it, citing other Taiwan airlines that have applied to fly to Palau.
He said that the travel bubble was started for a reason, to help with tourism recovery. This whole month, there were no flights due to cancellations by China Airlines. Whipps said that this is “unacceptable” and that it must be changed. “We need action. We need to write to Taiwan Transportation Minister to allow other airlines to fly.”
The travel bubble between Palau and Taiwan was pushed by President Surangel Whipps Jr. as soon as he took office this year, marking the opening of the travel bubble by traveling to Taiwan himself with the Palau delegation. President Whipps has pushed for the travel bubble citing the need to restart tourism and to continue medical referrals to Taiwan.