Airlines cancel or re-route flights amid China’s missile drills near Taiwan

Singapore Airlines was one of several Asian carriers to cancel flights through the area (Getty Images)

Several airlines have cancelled or re-routed flight this week, as China carried out military drills off the coast near Taiwan.

Singapore Airlines, Korean Air and Asiana, as well as Singapore’s low-cost offshoot Scoot, have all cancelled flights to the Taiwanese capital, Taipei between Thursday and Sunday.

South Korea’s flagship airline Korean Air cancelled all flights to Taiwan on Friday and Saturday, while Singapore and Scoot confirmed all four scheduled flights to the island had been cancelled on Friday.

Korean carrier Asiana delayed its Thursday flight to Taipei before cancelling Friday’s departure.

Meanwhile Japan’s ANA and Japan Airlines, as well as Cathay Pacific, have all modified their usual flight routes to Taipei, Hong Kong and some southeast Asian airports in order to avoid the affected airspace.

China fired ballistic missiles into waters near the Matsu islands during unprecedented military drills around Taiwan on Thursday.

Its government has warned aircraft and ships to avoid the areas during the exercises in the Taiwan Strait, which are expected to run until Sunday.

The military activity was in response to US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s controversial visit to Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China regards as its sovereign territory.

Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party said China’s drills on busy international waterways and aviation routes amounted to “irresponsible, illegitimate behaviour”.

According to flight-tracking website FlightRadar24, Philippine Airlines, China Airlines and EVA Air are all still operating flights into Taiwan, as well as as some cargo operators.

Cathay Pacific warned that the adjusted routes could add time to its journeys, though it is not expected to be as impactful as the closure of Russian airspace after the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

In March, the redirected air traffic around Japan added four hours to the duration of one of Finnair’s Europe-Asia routes.

On Tuesday, Nancy Pelosi’s journey to Taiwan from Kuala Lumpur became the most watched route in flight tracking website FlightRadar24’s history, with almost three million watching a portion of the plane’s progress.