Arrive at a hidden island in under an hour – First flight from Taoyuan to Ishigaki

On today’s (May 23) inaugural flight to Ishigaki, TransAsia Airways invited MAHAE CHAN, the mascot from Okinawa Prefecture, and Beibei, the highly popular flight attendant mascot from BabyBoss (Zhongbao Baby City), to personally see off passengers at the boarding gate. They took photos and interacted with travelers to jointly celebrate and witness the maiden voyage. Going forward, the Taoyuan–Ishigaki route will operate one round-trip flight each on Thursdays and Sundays. The outbound flight departs at 1:25 p.m. and arrives in Ishigaki at 3:20 p.m., while the return flight leaves Ishigaki at 4:10 p.m. and arrives back at Taoyuan Airport at 4:10 p.m. as well, due to the time difference.


▲The Taoyuan–Ishigaki route will operate one round-trip flight each on Thursdays and Sundays going forward.


▲At Ishigaki Airport, local staff welcomed Taiwanese travelers with banners.

TransAsia Airways stated that since launching chartered flights to Ishigaki in 2010, passenger loads have consistently remained above 80%. The number of chartered flights has increased year by year. In 2012, a total of 86 chartered flights were operated to Ishigaki, accounting for 17% of all Japan-bound chartered flights for that year—marking an increase of over 30% compared to 66 flights in 2011, reflecting strong travel demand among the public.

Benefiting from the open skies policy between Taiwan and Japan, TransAsia Airways has actively planned new Japanese destinations. By switching the Ishigaki route to a regular scheduled flight, it will be able to meet the travel needs of even more people, further boosting the tourism market on Ishigaki. With the addition of Ishigaki, TransAsia Airways now serves a total of 8 destinations in Japan, offering over 12,000 seats per week.