Airline, ferry services affected by Tropical Storm Danas

Taipei, July 5 (CNA) Several ferry operators and local airlines on Saturday announced the suspension of services over the weekend as Tropical Storm Danas approached Taiwan.

As of 2 p.m., the eye of the storm was located 390 kilometers west-southwest of Cape Eluanbi, Taiwan's southernmost point, and moving north-northeast at 8 to 11 kilometers per hour, according to Central Weather Administration (CWA) data.

It was packing maximum sustained winds of 72 km per hour and gusts of up to 101 kph, the CWA said.

A sea warning for the storm has already been issued, and a land warning could be issued for Taiwan as early as late Saturday, as the storm's outer bands begin bringing heavier rain to parts of southeastern Taiwan, according to the CWA.

In response to the sea warning, the Kinmen County Harbor Bureau announced the cancellation of ferries on "mini-three links" routes to China.

Saturday ferries between Kinmen's Shuitou Pier and the Shijing Passenger Pier in China's Quanzhou were suspended as a precaution due to the storm, and the suspension will remain in place on Sunday, the bureau said.

Sunday will also see ferries between Kinmen's Shuitou Pier and the Wutong Ferry Terminal in Xiamen suspended for the day, the bureau said.

Lienchiang County ferry operators also announced the cancellation of ferries between the county's Matsu Islands and China.

Matsu's North-South Ferry Company said Saturday that it has canceled its services on Sunday and Monday due to China's own typhoon response protocols.

The company's ferries going between Baisha Harbor on Matzu's northern Beigan Island and Huangqi Port in Fuzhou, China will be canceled for the two days, as will be services between Fuao Harbor in the county's southern Nangan Island and Fuzhou's Langqi Harbor.

Another Matsu ferry operator, Hsieh Ho Shipping, said all of its ferries operating from the two Matsu islands to China's Fuzhou will be canceled from Sunday to Tuesday.

In terms of domestic services, All Ports Transportation Co., which runs the New Taima Ferry from Keelung City to Matsu, released a notice saying that it will cancel trips starting with the Keelung to Matsu ferry Saturday evening and the return ferry on Sunday morning.

Due to the CWA's storm forecast, ferry services Sunday and Monday evenings will most likely be suspended as well, the company said.

In the south, ferries between Pingtung County and Liuqiu Island moved up their schedules due to the presence of high waves on Saturday before canceling service.

Initially, the companies announced that ferry services would be canceled Sunday, but with waves getting stronger, ferry companies Taifu Ferry, Leuco Sapphire Shipping, Dongliu Ferry and Dafu Liuqiu Shipping all moved their schedules up Saturday.

Liu Xin Ferry, meanwhile, announced on Friday that it had suspended operations on Saturday and Sunday.

Aside from sea transportation cancellations, Taiwanese regional airlines UNI Airways and Mandarin Airlines both announced the cancellation of their domestic flights on Sunday.

The two airlines urged travelers to check their itineraries online before embarking on their prospective trips.

On international flights, Tigerair Taiwan announced on Saturday a number of flight changes that mostly involved moving up flight schedules for Sunday.

The budget airline said its IT288 flight from Kaohsiung to Okinawa will take off at 8:15 a.m. on Sunday instead of the original 1 p.m. departure, while the return IT289 flight will depart at 12 p.m. instead of 2 p.m.

The company's Kaohsiung-Macau flight IT321 will take off at 1:05 p.m., while the IT372 Macau-Taichung flight will take off at 3:50 p.m.

Additionally, the Kaohsiung-Tokyo flight IT280 will take off at 7:05 a.m. and the return IT281 flight will depart at 12:30 p.m.

Tigerair Taiwan said the revised schedule is still subject to change depending on weather conditions and the policies of the respective airports.