Tigerair Taiwan preparing for Macau route resumption

Tigerair Taiwan has said that it is preparing to resume flights between Macau and Taiwan, but no exact date has been given, in a response to the Times.

Tigerair Taiwan is the low-cost carrier of the island. It is a subsidiary of one of Taiwan’s three airline companies that operate international flights, China Airlines. The brand was originally from Singapore but the Tigerair company in Singapore was acquired by Scoot, making Taiwan now the sole owner of the brand.

As part of an agreement commonly referred to as the Open Skies Policy, flights between Macau and Taiwan do not have frequency of capacity restrictions. Airlines can easily increase or decrease flights according to demand with little to no application procedures.

The sole restriction is that only Macau or Taiwan airlines can operate services between the two places.

Prior to December last year, travellers from Taiwan to Macau were required to conduct centralized quarantine. Taiwan has long lifted this requirement. Despite accepting tourists holding Macau passports, Taiwan requires these tourists to travel within a group tour for the entire trip.

Those travelling from Macau holding foreign passports are not subject to this requirement.

Against this background, many airlines have already started resuming services to Macau. Tigerair Taiwan’s internal competitors, EVA Air and Starlux Airlines, have quickly increased flights to Macau. In contrast, the low-cost carrier has not yet done so.

On the question about plans to resume flights between Macau and Taiwan, Emily Yu, assistant manager at the marketing and public relations team of the low-cost carrier, noted that the airline was “preparing for the resumption of the Macau route.”

Apart from giving no exact date, Yu added that “tourism-related demand and supply in Macau will be continuously and dynamically monitored to identify the most appropriate timing for the resumption, taking into account market and related demands after Covid-19 restrictions.”

Before Covid-19, Macau had been a popular destination among Taiwanese tourists. Taiwan accounted for the third-largest tourism market of origin, after mainland China and Hong Kong.

Taiwan has also always been a popular tourism destination for people from Macau. Steven Feng, general manager at the Macau branch of Starlux Airlines, said that many Macau people would consider travelling to Taiwan for the weekend.

EVA and Starlux are currently operating a daily flight between the two places. Prior to Covid-19, EVA also operated services to Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan and Taichung in central Taiwan. These two routes have not yet resumed.