Local budget airline Zest Airways Inc. has cancelled flights between Boracay and Taipei over current tension between the Philippines and Taiwan.
An Interaksyon report quotes a letter from Zest Air senior vice president Butch Rodriguez to the Civil Aeronautics Board saying the airline will suspend Kalibo-Taipei flights from May 20 “mainly due to the political crisis between the Philippines and Taiwan.”
A flight already scheduled on May 19 will bring Taiwanese passengers to Taipei but will not carry any passengers on the return flight. Taiwan has issued a “red travel advisory” on the Philippines which bans Taiwanese from visiting the Philippines.
The tension between the Philippines and Taiwan stems from the death of a Taiwanese fisherman who was reportedly shot by Philippine Coast Guard personnel who were trying to keep a Taiwanese fishing vessel from ramming their own. The fishing vessel was in Philippine waters.
The report cites Department of Tourism data that put Taiwan as the fifth largest source of tourists in 2012 with 210,000 Taiwanese visiting the country.
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Photo: Peter Vilamer Sanchez
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