Airlines scrap, reroute flights as China fires live missiles in drills near Taiwan (updated)

EVA Airways

05/08/2022 04:21

(Changes slug for media clients, adds comment from Philippine
Airlines and Vietnam regulator, context on airspace closures)
    By Joyce Lee and Jamie Freed
    SEOUL, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Airlines have cancelled flights to
Taipei and rerouted others to avoid airspace nearby that has
been closed to civilian traffic during Chinese military
exercises sparked by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy
Pelosi's visit to Taiwan.
    China deployed scores of planes and fired live missiles near
Taiwan on Thursday in its biggest-ever drills in the Taiwan
Strait, set to run until noon local time (0400 GMT) on Sunday in
six zones encircling much of the island.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2ZG03C
    The airspace involved is comparatively small, but the
disruption from the largest military exercises by China in the
area since it fired missiles off the coast in 1996 is hampering
travel between Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia.
    Temporary airspace closures and route changes during major
military exercises occur regularly around the world.
    This situation is unusual in that China's exercises bisect
Taiwan's claimed 12 nautical miles (22 kilometres) of
territorial waters - something Taiwanese officials say
challenges the international order and amount to a blockade of
its sea and airspace.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2ZG07Q
    Korean Air Lines Co Ltd  003490.KS  and Singapore Airlines
Ltd  SIAL.SI  said they had cancelled flights to and from Taipei
on Friday due to the exercises, with the Korean carrier also
cancelling its Saturday flights and delaying Sunday flights.
    Japan's ANA Holdings Inc  9202.T  and Japan Airlines Co Ltd
 9201.T  are still operating flights to Taipei as normal,
spokespeople for the airlines said, but are avoiding the
affected airspace on those flights, as well as on routes to Hong
Kong and Southeast Asia.
    Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd  0293.HK  and
Philippines Airlines said their flights were avoiding designated
airspace zones around Taiwan, in a move that could lead to more
flying time for some flights, while Vietnam's aviation regulator
warned its airlines to avoid the area.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nP8N2Z7007
    Flight tracking service FlightRadar24 showed Taiwanese
carriers China Airlines Ltd  2610.TW  and EVA Airways Corp
 2618.TW  were still flying to and from the island as of Friday
morning, as were cargo carriers FedEx Corp  FDX.N  and United
Parcel Service Inc  UPS.N , though avoiding the areas affected
by the military drills. 
    Emirates, United Airlines Holdings Inc  UAL.O  and Turkish
Airlines had flights en route to Taipei on Friday morning local
time, Flightradar24 showed.
    Taiwan, along with mainland China and Hong Kong, is one of
the few places in the world that still requires quarantine for
arrivals because of COVID-19, triggering reduced demand for
travel to the island that means there are far fewer flights than
before the pandemic.
    OPSGROUP, an aviation industry cooperative that shares
information on flight risks, said the exercises would affect
major routes between Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia, leading
to re-routings that could take longer and burn extra fuel.
    The airspace involved, however, is minor in its impact on
the global aviation industry compared to the decision by most
airlines to bypass overflight of other places like Russia,
Ukraine, Afghanistan, North Korea, Iraq and Syria.
    The avoidance of Russian airspace, for example, has led to a
near four-hour increase in flight times between Finland and
Japan.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2V607R
    Taiwan said on Wednesday it was negotiating with
neighbouring Japan and the Philippines to find alternative
aviation routes, the official Central News Agency (CNA)
reported.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nB9N2YU04H

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GRAPHIC-Map showing Chinese drills around Taiwan     https://tmsnrt.rs/3oQXXjC
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 (Reporting by Joyce Lee in Seoul and Jamie Freed in Sydney;
Additional reporting by Maki Shiraki in Tokyo, Neil Jerome
Morales in Manila, Khanh Vu in Hanoi and Twinnie Siu in Hong
Kong; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
 ((Jamie.Freed@thomsonreuters.com;))