Taiwan airlines offering Chinese Valentine's Day sightseeing flights

Taipei, Aug. 14 (CNA) Taiwanese airlines are inviting passengers to celebrate Chinese Valentine's Day with half-day trips that focus on the flight experience, as international travel remains restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The special flights on offer by China Airlines (CAL) and StarLux Airlines for Aug. 22, four days before the actual Valentine's Day, are similar to those that were promoted earlier in the month as sightseeing tours by air on Father's Day.

The Aug. 22 flights will leave from Taoyuan International Airport and fly over Taiwan or toward neighboring countries before returning to the departure point, the carriers said.

CAL said that on its two-hour tour, its Boeing 737-800 jetliner will fly south toward Taiwan's Hengchun Peninsular, then turn north along the country's east coast, cruising over Green Island and Yilan County, after which it will go east toward Japan's Ishigaki Island, before returning to Taoyuan.

For the flight, the airline is offering 108 seats, with the tickets sold in pairs at NT$7,374 (US$250) per person for economy class, and $8,899 for business class.

StarLux, meanwhile, is promoting two flights for Aug. 22 -- one around noon and the other at dusk -- which will take passengers on a four-hour trip southward to Taiwan's Pratas Islands in the South China Sea and back to Taoyuan.

Tickets for the flights on the carrier's Airbus 321neo jet cost NT$9,999 per person for economy class and NT$13,344 for business class and include a voucher for a one-night stay at a hotel in Taipei -- the Indigo Taipei North.

The Chinese Valentine's Day "flights to nowhere" are the latest in series of similar tours being sold by Taiwan airlines, in an effort to recover from the sharp drop in passenger volume due to border restrictions and quarantine regulations in Taiwan and many other countries around the world amid the COVID-19 pandemic.