TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s China Airlines is expected to start direct flights to the new terminal of Kumamoto Prefecture Japan from Taipei on March 23, according to a Yahoo News report on Monday (Jan. 2).

The link will benefit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) as it is setting up a fab in the area. TSMC started work on the wafer plant in April 2022, while mass production is expected to begin at the end of 2024.

The new TSMC subsidiary is 20% invested in by Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corp. The Japanese government has offered subsidies of US$3.5 billion (NT$100 billion) to build the factory.

A "Kaohsiung-Kumamoto" route was operated by China Airlines from October 2015, according to Yahoo News. It was suspended in February 2020 because of COVID.

Kumamoto Governor Kamashima Ikuo is expected to arrive in Taiwan on Jan. 11 to visit the China Airlines head office and hammer out details of the flight. One flight per day is expected to begin operations.