(CNN) — Sixty eager “travelers” showed up to Taipei Songshan Airport on Thursday, boarding passes in hand, to take a rather unusual trip.
Their destination? Nowhere.
The first of three scheduled tours took place on July 2, with two more set for July 4 and July 7.
Taipei Songshan Airport’s three half-day tours allow locals to pretend to take a flight.
Taipei Songshan Airport
“In addition to letting the participants go through security screening, identification inspection and other immigration clearance procedures, they actually boarded the plane to experience the fun of boarding,” Ting Hsu, who works in Songshan Airport’s planning department, told CNN Travel.
Some 7,000 users reportedly entered.
Among these applications, 180 people — or 60 passengers per flight — were chosen randomly to join the half-day tour.
Travelers are issued a boarding pass and welcomed onto an airplane that never actually takes off.
Taipei Songshan Airport
Taiwan carrier China Airlines operated the first “flight” on July 2, which took place onboard an A330. Flight attendants were on board to speak with the passengers.
“China Airlines has arranged personnel for airplane cleaning and disinfection to give instructions on pandemic prevention, so that the public can understand our aviation industry’s efforts in pandemic prevention,” said Hsu.
EVA Air will host the second and third tours.
Inflight meals, however, weren’t provided. Instead, tour-goers dined at one of the airport restaurants.
Songshan Airport, located in the city center, is celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2020.
Taipei Songshan Airport
Smaller in size and capacity than Taipei’s Taoyuan International Airport, Songshan Airport is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year and, in 2019, completed a series of renovations and expansions. Tour-takers get to be the “first to experience the new facilities at the airport,” according to promotional fliers.
International tourism has been effectively stopped in much of the world as countries shut their borders to stem outbreaks of the coronavirus, which has already infected more than 7 million people globally.
Taiwan locked down its borders in March amid the growing coronavirus pandemic.
CNN’s Ben Westcott and Shanshan Wang also contributed to the report.