The ‘flights to nowhere’ trend has taken an unexpected turn, with one Asian airline organising speed-dating flights over the festive season.
Eva Air has teamed up with travel experience company Mobius on a campaign called ‘Fly! Love is in the Air.’ which will see singles take three-hour flights circling the airspace above Taipai while they search for love, according to CNN Travel.
The experience pairs up singles at random and encourages them to have in-depth conversations with each other while enjoying a meal prepared by Michelin-starred chef Motoke Nakamura.
Each matchmaking flight is accompanied by a two-hour date on land, with each different depending on the which trip is booked.
The Christmas Day flight will include an afternoon tea date back on land, the New Year’s trip starts off with a candlelit dinner before take-off, and the New Year’s Day trip will host a breakfast date.
“Because of COVID-19, Eva Air has been organising ‘faux travel’ experiences to fulfil people’s desire for travel. When single men and women travel, apart from enjoying the fun in travel, they may wish to meet someone – like a scene in a romantic movie,” Chiang Tsung-Wei, the spokesperson for You and Me, the speed dating arm of Mobius, told CNN Travel.
“The biggest advantage of speed dating on a flight comes from the serious nature from our participants.
“In addition to gathering participants with enough spending power, it also attracts a group of single people who love travelling. With the same values, it boosts participants’ motivation to meet and helps smoothen their conversation from the start.”
Each matchmaking flight only seats 40 people, 20 men and 20 women, and passengers need to be university graduates with citizenship in Taiwan.
There is also an age specification; only men between the ages of 28 and 38 are allowed to purchase a ticket and women aged between 24 and 35, which, as you can imagine has attracted some criticism.
Tickets are priced at $410 and CNN reported that the first flight sold out within a week.
The trend has been taken up across the Asia Pacific region, with Qantas’ iconic flight to nowhere and China Airlines hosting a flight that didn’t even take off.
Cruise lines have been getting on board too, with Royal Caribbean and Dream Cruises hosting cruises to nowhere in Singapore.
Featured image source: Instagram/evaairways
