Kinmen Fog Disrupts Travel, Air and Sea Transport Deployed for Three Days

Kinmen experienced heavy fog on the last day of the Qingming Festival holiday, leading to the cancellation of 22 flights and stranding many travelers. Sea transport was deployed that day. The fog cleared by the afternoon of the next day, and military and civilian charter flights were also put into service for evacuation.

On April 8th, over 700 people remained stranded at Kinmen Airport, and military aircraft were again deployed for transport. Airport officials, military personnel, and the office of legislator Chen Yu-chen began calling passengers for military flights around 3 PM, transporting them in batches to the military airport. Military aircraft have been taking off sequentially to transport passengers back to Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung.

As of 8 PM, the number of waiting passengers at Kinmen Airport had significantly decreased, with only a few dozen remaining.

Xu Ji-xin, Director of the Kinmen County Government's Tourism Department, told CNA that before major holidays like the Spring Festival and Qingming Festival, the county government requests additional charter flights from the Ministry of Transportation. In cases of large passenger backlogs or poor weather, they follow the established 'ABC Ministry of Transportation Transport Response Mechanism Plan.' If weather permits, charter flights are used first. If capacity is insufficient, military aircraft are requested. If air transport is impossible due to fog, and sea conditions are not rough, sea transport is initiated.

Xu Ji-xin stated that on the morning of the Qingming holiday's return day, Kinmen experienced heavy fog. The county government coordinated with the Kinmen Airport and the Maritime and Port Bureau to count passengers. The Maritime and Port Bureau quickly deployed the backup vessel 'Xin Jin Xiang Long' for passenger transport. Subsequently, through coordination between the county government, legislators, the Civil Aeronautics Administration, the Ministry of National Defense, and airlines, additional charter flights and military aircraft were arranged to assist in the evacuation. (Editor: Li Heng-shan) 1150408