China Airlines (
Net income of China Airlines rose 65 percent to NT$2.17 billion (US$66 million) for the three months ended Sept. 30, while sales rose 28 percent to NT$26.26 billion. EVA Airways had a 61 percent increase in net income in the same period, rising to NT$1.4 billion.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-TEH, TAIPEI TIMES
"The passenger business is especially good this year," said Nieh Kuo-wei (聶國維), an EVA spokesman. Flights to the US and Northeast Asian destinations such as Japan and South Korea were the most popular for EVA's customers, he said.
Like other Asian carriers, China Airlines and EVA Airways have been carrying more air travelers on holidays abroad as the region recovers from the slump caused by last year's SARS outbreak. The volume of air cargo, which rose in the third quarter due to rising demand for Taiwanese electronics exports, may taper in the final quarter, analysts said.
"The third quarter might have been the peak" for these airlines, said Peter Tzeng, an analyst at Polaris Securities Co (
"Sales and profit in the fourth quarter will likely be lower than the third," due to "weaker electronics demand in the fourth quarter," he said.
On the Taiwan Stock Exchange, China Airlines' shares fell 0.6 percent to NT$17.70, while EVA Airways' shares fell 1.1 percent to NT$13.25 before the results were announced. More Taiwanese residents took to the sky as the nation's economic recovery picked up pace, expanding 7.7 percent in the second quarter following 6.7 percent growth in the first three months.
The nation's residents made almost 5.3 million trips in the first eight months of the year, 46 percent more than the same period last year, according to the transport ministry.
Passengers accounted for 53 percent of China Airlines' sales in the third quarter, during which many Taiwan residents traveled. That compares with 50 percent in the second quarter.
"China Airlines is benefiting more from passenger business" than cargo operations, said Tu Jin-lung (杜金龍), chairman of Grand Cathay Investment Services Co (大華投信).
Cargo made up 41 percent of China Airlines' sales in the third quarter, down from 44 percent in the second quarter, according to the Taiwan Stock Exchange Web site.
China Airlines will probably fill an average 76 percent of seats this year, up from 69 percent last year, Tzeng said.
China Airlines yesterday introduced a range of European-style dishes for its Taipei-Frankfurt route.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure