The CAA issued the order during a coordination meeting with FAT and other airlines held after the FAT announced it would shut down its operations starting today.

FAT, Taiwan's oldest private carrier that has been seriously plagued by worsening domestic aviation market, originally promised to take active measures to negotiate with other carriers to transport back to Taiwan those passengers stranded overseas due to the suspension of flight services.

But during the coordination meeting, CAA director General Billy K.C. Chang resolved that the FAT should continue operating six inbound international flights today to transport holders of FAT flight tickets back to Taiwan from abroad, as well as three domestic flights between Taiwan and offshore islands of Kinmen and Penghu.

Yesterday evening, the FAT issued a statement offering its "deepest apology" to society for the temporary shutdown that is expected to affect the rights and benefits of its clients and business partners.

Debt-ridden FAT filed for bankruptcy protection with the Taipei District Court Feb. 17 and has sought new investors or injunctions of capital from its major stock holders since then.

The efforts have failed to win any support for the 51-year-old carrier, founded on June 5, 1957.

On May 1, the labor union of the financially-troubled Far East Air Transport Corp. (FAT) claimed they would never offer labor service if its management fails to clear overdue salaries payable to them before May 15.

More than 600 FAT members gathered at the Terminal 2 of the Taipei Sungshan Airport to hold a plenary session of the labor union members to discuss ways to retrieve 0.9 month of overdue salary, with pilots, stewards, stewardesses, and ground service staff participating.

This was the first work slowdown launched by the FAT labor union since the firm's financial crisis broke out in early February. But the FAT still maintain normal operations yesterday morning.

During the meeting, union members vented their anger on FAT for its failure to pay the salaries for part of March and April. "We have to pay income tax and housing tax in May, and we cannot keep expecting a 'miracle from heaven'," a veteran employee said.

Although no concrete consensus was reached during the meeting, the employees resolved to consign the labor union to conduct further negotiations with the FAT management over the repayment of overdue salaries before May 15.



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