Taiwan Says Dozens Of Flights Will Be Affected By The Implementation Of China's No-Fly Zone

Taiwan Taouyuan International Airport. (Wikimedia Commons/Ray Swi-hymn)

JAKARTA - China's plan to implement a no-fly zone in Taiwan's northern region on April 16, will affect some 33 flights, Taiwan's official news agency reported.

The impact on flights has greatly reduced after Taiwan said it had succeeded in urging China to drastically narrow its plans to close airspace north of the island, Transport Minister Wang Kwo-tsai said, citing Reuters from the Central News Agency (CNA) April 13.

It was previously reported that China initially informed Taiwan of the planned implementation of the ban zone on April 16-18.

However, Taiwan's Ministry of Transport said the plan later changed and was reduced to just 27 minutes on Sunday morning, following protests from Taipei.

Minister Wang said the ministry had discussed with Japanese aviation authorities who would issue notices on Thursday evening to ships and aircraft to avoid the area for a certain period on Sunday morning, CNA said.

Wang added that the implementation of the ban zone resulted in an additional travel time of less than an hour for affected flights, as they had to shift further south from the original route.

Taiwan's transport ministry on Wednesday published a map showing what China's "aerospace activity zone" labeled in northeastern Taiwan, as well as near a group of disputed islands called Diaoyu by China and Senkaku by Japan.

The development followed China's days-long intensive military exercises around Taiwan, in response to a meeting of President Tsai Ing-wen with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California, United States last week.

Earlier, when China imposed air space restrictions during last August's military exercise, there was a significant disruption to flights in the region, with several aircraft required to carry extra fuel, according to OPSGROUP, an aviation industry cooperative providing analysis of flight risks.