Singapore Airlines Ltd announced yesterday it will slash fares on its Taipei-Singapore route to secure its turf in the face of intense competition from budget carrier JetStar Asia.
Singapore Airlines is slated to launch a new package, which will take effect on Dec. 16, according to Zoe Lin (林幸坤), product manager of Star Travel Corp (燦星旅遊網).
The limited economy-class tickets will cost NT$1,688 (US$52) for a round trip between Taipei and Singapore, cheaper than flights originating in Taipei and Kaohsiung offered by domestic carriers, Lin said.
The package will available between Dec. 16 and March 31, except for a "blackout period" from Jan. 21 to Feb. 24, during the peak season.
JetStar Asia, a budget air carrier based in Singapore, announced on Monday that it would begin regular flight services between Taipei and Singapore on Dec. 16, while ticket sales will begin Tuesday.
Tickets will cost NT$2,360 for a single trip, much lower than the current average of about NT$10,000 (US$312) offered by other airlines, a JetStar executive said, adding that JetStar Asia is offering a special price of NT$1,760 during the first week of flight services on the route.
Both China Airlines (華航) and EVA Airways Corp (長榮) said the entry of low-cost carriers such as JetStar Asia into the market is not expected to have an impact on their businesses. The two companies have no plans to offer similar cut-rate services in the near future.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”