TAIPEI (Reuters) – An airport in Taiwan has come out with an innovative way to satiate the craving of travel-deprived Taiwanese during the lockdown. It issues faux itinerary, enabling ‘passengers’ to pass through passport control and board the aircraft, which never takes off.
Songshan airport in Taipei has come out with this novel travel experience. As many as 7,000 people applied for the fake journey and the winners were randomly chosen. According to airport authorities, more such ‘flights’ will be made available in coming weeks.
“I really want to leave the country, but because of the epidemic lots of flights can’t fly,” said Hsiao Chun-wei, 38, who arrived at the airport along with her son.
All passengers were given boarding passes and they went through security and immigration before entering a China Airlines Airbus A330. On board the aircraft they interacted with the flight attendants.
“I hope the epidemic ends soon so we can really fly away,” said Tsai, one of the faux passengers.
Songshan airport introduced this event to showcase the renovations done during the lockdown period as well as the COVID-19 preventive measures they have adopted.
Songshan operates services to Tokyo, Seoul and a host of Chinese cities. It is also a major hub of domestic flights.
In the wake of fewer flights operating, the number of passengers has dropped by 64% in the first five months of this year, said a government statement.
But the aviation sector in the island nation is witnessing a boom in domestic flights. Domestic carriers – Mandarin Airlines and Eva Air’s Uni Air – have included additional capacity to the country’s offshore islands and east coast. during summer.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field