• By Tsai Yun-jung and Kayleigh Madjar / Journalist, with the editor

The first direct flight between Kaohsiung and Hokkaido is expected to launch on January 21 next year, Tigerair Taiwan announced yesterday, with discounted fares for first-time buyers.

The first flight between Kaohsiung International Airport and the new Chitose Airport serving Sapporo is scheduled to depart on Jan. 21, the budget airline said.

Two flights will be operated each week on this route during the initial period, departing from Kaohsiung at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and returning from New Chitose at 1:55 p.m. on the same days, it said.

Photo: Taipei Times

To celebrate the new route, one-way tickets on the route are available for NT$3,899 from now until 11:59 p.m. tonight for flights between January 21 and March 29, it said the airline.

More detailed information is available on the Tigerair Taiwan website.

The Sapporo route is the airline’s 11th from Kaohsiung, adding to services between the southern city and Narita Airport in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Okayama, Fukuoka and Okinawa in Japan; Seoul Gimpo Airport in South Korea; Macau; and Da Nang and Phu Quoc in Vietnam.