Flight of the pandas draws excitement in Taiwan

By Yang Lifei  |   2008-12-17  |     ONLINE EDITION

DOZENS of Taiwan people are competing for 100 free tickets on a charter flight by EVA Air that will take pandas Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan to the island province next week.

The pandas will ride in an air-conditioned chamber aboard a Boeing 747-400. Five workers from the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center as well as the 100 passengers will also be on board, according to Xinhua news agency.

The special cargo cabin will only be accessible to vets and nursing staff.

By this afternoon, more than 60 Taiwan people have submitted applications for the free flight although numbers are expected to increase, the report said.

EVA Air has cooperated with six Taiwan-based travel agencies to also promote the ``Ride with Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan'' flight, which includes a choice of either a two-day trip or a four-day trip to Sichuan Province.

A Taiwan tourism industry insider was quoted as saying the trips were popular because of the pandas and the low price. The two-day trip costs 5,900 Taiwan New Dollars (US$180), which includes a visit to the panda reserve, a face-changing Sichuan Opera performance and four-star hotel accommodation. Usually, a single ticket from Taipei to Chengdu, capital city of Sichuan Province, is priced at TN$12,000 to TN$15,000, Xinhua said.

It was unclear whether the 100 passengers would have a chance to take a photo with the pandas before boarding the flight.