Uni Air's DASH8 aircraft retires; "orange-tailed plane landing in Matsu" becomes a thing of the past

Reporter Chen Ziying / Taipei reporting

Frequent travelers between Taiwan and Matsu are no strangers to Uni Air’s 56-seat turboprop DASH8-300. Yesterday (19th), the final flight of the DASH8-300 bid farewell to Matsu’s Nangan Airport in the afternoon and was officially decommissioned. It will subsequently be replaced by the 70-seat ATR72-600 turboprop aircraft to continue transporting passengers to and from Matsu.


▲ The DASH8-300, remembered by many travelers, retired with honor in Matsu on the 18th. (Photo / File photo, taken by reporter Chen Ziying)

Uni Air had previously announced online, hoping to invite passengers to witness the honorable retirement of this aircraft. Tickets sold out instantly after going on sale. The final DASH8-300 flight departed from Songshan Airport at 2:59 p.m. on the 19th and arrived at Nangan Airport at 3:44 p.m.; it then took off from Nangan Airport at 4:05 p.m. to bid farewell to Matsu and arrived back at Songshan Airport at 4:57 p.m., completing its ten-year mission. After carrying tens of millions of passengers, it retired with honor.

Known affectionately as the "little fox," the DASH8-300 is over 19 years old and was built by Canada’s Bombardier Aerospace. However, to meet the booming growth of tourism in Matsu, Uni Air began using the ATR72-600, a 70-seat turboprop aircraft featuring its new corporate logo, starting in December last year. DASH flights gradually decreased, and beginning August 19, all Matsu routes will be fully operated by ATR72-600 aircraft. The sight of their white fuselages with orange tails and propeller engines taking off and landing at Nangan and Beigan airports has now become a thing of the past.