On Thursday, Taipei’s Songshan Airport hosted 60 locals aboard its “fake flight” experience. According to the airport, the move was aimed towards those “starved of the travel experience” during the coronavirus pandemic.
The would-be passengers received boarding passes and proceeded through security and immigration, before boarding a China Airlines Airbus A330 complete with flight attendants and pilots.
While the “flight” only lasted 15 minutes, passengers were also given the freedom to explore parts of the terminal, eat snacks at one of the airport’s restaurants and shop in the duty-free store.
According to the airport, 7,000 people applied for the chance to take part in the experience – with winners chosen at random.
Songshan plans to schedule several more fake flights over the course of the following weeks, as well as half-day tours of the airport on 2, 4, and 7 July.
“People who didn’t have the opportunity to take international flights at Songshan (can) use this chance to experience and learn more about boarding process and relevant service facilities,” said Chih-ching Wang, deputy director of Taipei Songshan Airport.
Located in central Taipei, Shongshan Airport is the smaller of the two capital airports, and an important domestic hub for commercial and military flights. While most flights operating out of Shongshan are internal, it boasts several daily connections to the major east Asian hubs – including Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul.
