Taipei: The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) on Monday confirmed that it is reviewing an application from Uni Air to suspend its regular Taipei-Hualien route, which, if approved, could deal a potentially fatal blow to Hualien's domestic air services. The Uni Air application, submitted in June, mirrors a formal request made by Mandarin Airlines the same month to suspend its Kaohsiung-Hualien and Taichung-Hualien routes.
According to Focus Taiwan, the three Uni Air and Mandarin Airlines routes are the only three regularly scheduled inbound and outbound flights currently handled by Hualien Airport. It does not offer service to any international destinations except through occasional charter flights. Uni Air explained that most people traveling between northern Taiwan and Hualien rely on ground transportation, resulting in limited demand for air travel.
By contrast, demand for flights to Taiwan's outlying islands remains high, and a suspension would allow Uni Air to make more efficient use of its limited resources by diverting aircraft from the Taipei-Hualien route to services to the outlying islands. CAA data seems to support the economic argument made by both airlines. The Taipei-Hualien route, currently operated only by Uni Air, had an average load factor of 24.2 percent from January to June 2026. During the same period, Mandarin Airlines' Taichung-Hualien and Kaohsiung-Hualien routes had load factors of 57.5 percent and 42 percent, respectively.
By comparison, load factors for routes between Taiwan proper and the outlying islands were all above 80 percent, with some reaching 90 percent. The Taipei-Taitung route had a load factor of more than 70 percent. Mandarin Airlines first raised the possibility of suspending its two Hualien flights in April, citing potential annual losses on the routes of about NT$70 million due to high fuel prices. The CAA said it has asked Mandarin Airlines to provide additional information regarding its applications to suspend the routes.
Amid concerns that Hualien could lose all domestic air services, the Hualien County Tourism Department urged the central government to consider the needs of rural areas in its development planning. Yu Ming-hsun, head of the department, told CNA that the county understood the airlines' business considerations but would work to persuade the central government to prevent the complete loss of air services to Hualien.
Hualien has no high-speed rail or freeway access, relying only on a provincial highway and basic rail services to connect with other parts of Taiwan. Yu argued that the county needed air transportation services for equitable treatment and local development. He suggested that the government consider subsidizing loss-making routes with revenue from more profitable routes. The sparsely populated Hualien County relies heavily on tourism, which continues to struggle after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake in early April 2024 devastated the county's top tourist attraction, Taroko Gorge. The number of visitors to scenic spots in the county totaled 4.23 million in the first six months of 2026, down 27.2 percent from the same period in 2023.