Far Eastern Air Transport's (FAT) plan to resume their services after a hiatus of nearly 3 years may have to be postponed until at least late February, as the company is unlikely to close its capital gap in time. According to the Civil Aeronautics Administration, it is almost certain at this point that no FAT flight will be scheduled during the upcoming Chinese New Year.

On January 13, the Far Eastern Air Transport conducted its first test flight from Taipei to Kinmen, with representatives from the Civil Aeronautics Administration supervising the entire trip.

The test flight successfully passed the examination and FEAT originally planned to start transportation services during the Lunar Spring festival.

However, the ticket pricing report that was submitted to the supervising unit last week has yet to obtain an approval even till now.

According to CAA regulations, once the ticket pricing is approved, an additional thirty days must pass before the proposal takes effect.

Considering all the waiting and hurdles, the FEAT will have to postpone their plans to late February; they will never make it in time for the Lunar Spring festival.

However, according to the CAA, FEAT's primary issues lie not in ticket pricing, but in its financial resources.

The company currently sustains itself on advance payments, but it actually needs 1.3 billion dollars in order to include passenger compliance bonds.

Even if all the required funding is in place, FEAT's flight continuance will have to abide by a set schedule.

Regarding whether the company will be able to go by a chartered flight plan, the CAA admits that given the time constraints, the possibility is small.

It's likely that FEAT flights will remain grounded for this lunar Spring festival.

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