Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia has suspended its Taipei to Tokyo route just one week after announcing it. Last week, AirAsia said it would expand its Northeast Asia footprint with three new routes connecting Taiwan and Japan: Taipei to Tokyo, Taipei to Okinawa, and Kaohsiung to Tokyo. But in a sudden turn of events, the airline has suspended the Taipei-Tokyo route, citing instructions from Malaysia’s aviation authority. The airline is offering a full refund to customers with bookings.

Candy Lin
Customer
I was pretty dumbfounded. They offered lots of flights at a special fare, so we thought that AirAsia was genuinely committed. I never would have imagined they’d come right out and cancel everyone’s bookings.

Gary Oba
Ticketing expert
For any accommodations or itineraries that you can’t cancel, I recommend that you provide proof of your flight cancellation to those businesses. In the future, you should also buy travel inconvenience coverage when you book your flights.

Jesse Lin
Travel expert
Air traffic rights are negotiated between countries. Although this route involved Taipei, the ability to fly that route required successful negotiation over air rights between Malaysia and Japan. This process of expanding flights could have encountered issues, we don’t know.

Currently, the suspension affects only the Taipei-Tokyo route, which was to be operated by AirAsia subsidiary, AirAsia X, starting May 31. The two other Taiwan-Japan routes will launch as scheduled in mid-June, operated by the subsidiary Thai AirAsia.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53
#台灣新聞 #TaiwanNews #民視新聞 #FTV新聞 #Taiwan