Typhoon Champi Shuts Taiwan’s Domestic Flights Friday as Taoyuan Cancels 414 Flights

Typhoon Champi will ground every domestic flight in Taiwan on Friday, October 23, 2026, Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said on Thursday. At Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, 414 Friday flights had been cancelled by 7 p.m. Thursday, the airport’s operator said.

Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued a land warning for the main island on Thursday. Most cities and counties then closed schools and offices for Friday, as Taiwan heads into the Retrocession Day long weekend.

Which Taiwan flights are cancelled

The Taoyuan figure, reported by Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA), covers 353 passenger flights and 61 cargo flights. Taoyuan International Airport Corp. expects Champi’s biggest effect on Taoyuan Airport on Friday and Saturday.

Domestic flights had already been thinning on Thursday. By 6 p.m. the CAA counted 126 domestic and 40 international cancellations for the day, the international ones mostly on Okinawa routes, CNA reported.

The CAA also had Uni Air and Mandarin Airlines add two flights each to Penghu on Thursday morning, from Kaohsiung and Taipei, to move travelers stranded on the islands. For Friday, the agency said, Taiwanese carriers had cancelled every domestic flight.

The international picture differs by airline, according to the carriers’ statements carried by CNA:

• Starlux Airlines: every flight between Taiwan and the rest of Asia on October 23 is cancelled. Its Europe and North America flights operate as planned.
• EVA Air: all Europe and North America long-haul flights after noon on October 23 are cancelled, and some flights at Taoyuan and Taipei Songshan are cancelled from October 23 until noon on October 24.
• China Airlines: afternoon flights from Songshan, Taoyuan and Kaohsiung on October 23 are cancelled, along with every Taichung flight that day.
• Tigerair Taiwan: 42 Friday flights between Taiwan and Japan or South Korea are cancelled, by our count of its list, including Naha, Fukuoka, Osaka Kansai, Jeju and Busan. Six Taoyuan departures leave earlier than scheduled.

Hong Kong’s airlines are cutting too. HK Express and Hong Kong Airlines have cancelled or rescheduled more than a dozen Taiwan and Japan flights, the South China Morning Post reported.

Champi already cancelled flights at Japan’s southern islands this week, which we covered in our Okinawa flight cancellations story.

Rebooking waivers for Taiwan flights

China Airlines says passengers whose flight is cancelled or delayed by two hours or more, or who lose a connection because of a schedule change, can rebook onto a flight within 14 days or take a refund without a fee.

Cathay Pacific is waiving rebooking and rerouting charges on Taipei tickets issued on or before October 21 for travel on October 23 or 24. Its notice says the ticket must be changed before October 24 and the new trip completed by December 31, and any fare or tax difference still applies.

EVA Air and Starlux told passengers to check their flight status before traveling. Neither statement carried by CNA set out the terms of a fee waiver.

Getting to Taoyuan will also be harder on Friday. The Taoyuan Airport MRT is cancelling all express trains and suspending in-town check-in at Taipei Main Station and New Taipei Industrial Park, with regular trains every 15 minutes, its operator said. Taiwan Railway has suspended all reserved-seat trains for the day.

How long Champi will disrupt Taiwan

At 8 p.m. Thursday the CWA placed Champi about 265 miles (430 km) east of Eluanbi, Taiwan’s southern tip, moving northwest at about 9 mph (15 km/h). Its maximum sustained winds had eased to 45 meters per second, about 101 mph (162 km/h).

The CWA expects the center to pass within about 50 miles (80 km) of Taiwan late Friday night or early Saturday morning, and has not ruled out a landfall. Its forecasters expect the wind to ease from Saturday afternoon.

Rain may be the bigger problem. The CWA forecasts as much as 16 to 28 inches (400 to 700 mm) in Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung and Taoyuan, with the heaviest falls from Friday into early Saturday.

Schools and offices are closed on Friday across the main island, including Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung and Kaohsiung, and in Penghu and Matsu. Taitung County closes only Orchid Island and Green Island, and Kinmen stays open, Focus Taiwan reported.

Why a big airport cancels a day early

Taoyuan’s own wind rules show why so much is cut in advance. The airport stops operating jet bridges once gusts reach 48 knots, and ties them down above 55 knots, the operator said.

Gusts like that can arrive many hours before a storm’s center is closest. Cancelling the night before spares passengers a wasted trip to the airport and keeps aircraft and crews from being stuck where they cannot fly out.

The pattern is the same one Champi set at Guam last weekend, where airlines kept flights grounded after the airport reopened, as our Guam flight cancellations report explained. Whether an airliner can fly through a typhoon is a separate question from whether an airport can turn it around.

Saturday’s schedule is still moving. EVA Air’s announced cuts run until noon on October 24, and the CAA says airlines will keep adjusting flights as the storm’s track develops.

Passengers booked through Taoyuan, Songshan or Kaohsiung this weekend should check their airline’s app before leaving home, since the CAA has asked carriers to post changes on their websites and notify travelers directly.