Air, sea transport disrupted ahead of Typhoon Bavi

Taipei, July 9 (CNA) Airlines and ferry operators announced widespread service changes Thursday as Typhoon Bavi approached Taiwan, with authorities urging travelers to monitor updates and avoid nonessential trips to outlying islands.

The Central Weather Administration issued a sea warning for Bavi at 2:30 p.m. Thursday and is expected to issue a land warning early Friday if the typhoon maintained its projected path and speed.

Air travel

Starlux Airlines said flights scheduled from Thursday through Sunday could be rescheduled or canceled, and urged passengers to check the latest flight information before heading to the airport.

Tigerair Taiwan said that, due to safety concerns, Thursday's IT232 Taoyuan-Naha and IT289 Naha-Kaohsiung flights were moved up, while IT706 and IT707 between Taoyuan and Nagoya were delayed. The airline advised passengers to check the "Flight Status" section of its website for updates.

China Southern Airlines said it had canceled several Taiwan flights because of the typhoon, including Friday's CZ3016/CZ3015 Taipei-Wuhan-Taipei and CZ3096/CZ3095 Taipei-Shanghai-Taipei services.

For Saturday, the carrier canceled CZ3088/CZ3087 Taipei-Shenzhen-Taipei, CZ3098/CZ3097 Taipei-Guangzhou-Taipei, CZ3096/CZ3095 Taipei-Shanghai-Taipei and CZ3024/CZ3023 Taipei-Zhengzhou-Taipei flights.

China Airlines said it would move up Thursday's CI122/CI123 Taoyuan-Okinawa-Taoyuan flights.

The carrier said it would cancel Friday's CI120/CI121 and CI122/CI123 Taoyuan-Okinawa-Taoyuan flights, as well as CI132/CI133 Kaohsiung-Okinawa-Kaohsiung flights. It also canceled Taoyuan departures to the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia scheduled after 6 p.m. Friday.

Sea transport

The Maritime and Port Bureau said ferry services on several domestic routes would be suspended or adjusted because of the storm.

On the Keelung-Matsu route, some sailings were canceled Thursday, with all services suspended Friday and Saturday. Service was expected to resume Sunday.

On the Kaohsiung-Penghu route, Friday sailings were moved up to Thursday, with no service on Friday or Sunday. No service had originally been scheduled for Saturday.

The Budai-Penghu route would operate some sailings earlier than scheduled Thursday before suspending all services Friday and Saturday.

There were no scheduled sailings Thursday on the Jiangjun-Dongji route, with all services suspended Friday through Sunday.

No sailings were scheduled from Thursday through Sunday on the Anping-Magong route or the Magong-Wangan-Qimei-Kaohsiung route.

The bureau also said ferry services on the Fugang-Green Island, Chenggong-Green Island, Fugang-Orchid Island and Houbihu-Orchid Island routes would be suspended from Thursday through Saturday. Whether services resume Sunday will depend on weather and sea conditions, it said.

For the ferry services between Kinmen and Matsu and China's Fujian province, the bureau said Fuao-Langqi sailings would be suspended from Thursday through Saturday, while Baisha-Huangqi services would be partially suspended Thursday and fully suspended Friday and Saturday.

The bureau had earlier said Kinmen-Shijing and Kinmen-Wutong sailings were expected to operate normally Thursday. However, the Kinmen County Harbor Office later announced that all ferry services between Kinmen and Xiamen and Quanzhou would be suspended Friday.

The harbor office also said Kinmen-Quanzhou ferry services were suspended starting at 11:10 a.m. Thursday to allow vessels to prepare for the typhoon.

Authorities urged travelers to make use of available sailings to return to Taiwan early and postpone trips to outlying islands to avoid being stranded by subsequent suspensions.

Rail service

Taiwan Railway Corp. said in a Facebook post that it would sell standing tickets all day Thursday on EMU3000 Tze-chiang limited express trains on the Eastern Trunk Line to help transport passengers from Hualien and Taitung heading north ahead of the typhoon.