With rising oil prices accounting for a growing chunk of airlines' costs and significantly eroding their profits, EVA Airways Corp (
Reiterating that it might still propose a hike in fuel surcharges, EVA Airways yesterday introduced the latest Boeing B777-300ER in its fleet at a press conference, showcasing its luxury in-flight entertainment facilities and comfortable seating arrangements.
The company is scheduled to take delivery of the nation's first B777-300ER passenger jet at the end of this month from Seattle.
The market price of this model, designed to fly long-haul routes such as Taipei-London, is over US$200 million, according to an EVA Airways official who refused to be named.
"This model is very competitive, as its twin engines can save as much as 20 percent of fuel compared with the Airbus 340, which is equipped with four engines," EVA Airways spokesman and executive vice president Nieh Kuo-wei (聶國維) said yesterday.
He added that two-engine planes will become more popular in future, as they can produce stronger thrust with less noise.
To replace its old aircraft, EVA Airways will take delivery of three new Airbus planes by the end of next year, and 15 Boeing 777s by 2009.
"Skyrocketing oil prices are eating into our margins. Now oil costs make up of 30 percent of our total expenditure, up from more than 20 percent in the past," said Steve Lin (林寶水), chairman of the nation's second-largest carrier.
Nevertheless, EVA Airways reported pre-tax revenues of NT$41.1 billion (US$1.3 billion) for the first six months of the year, which represents 8.6 percent growth from a year ago.
World oil prices hovered at around US$40 a barrel last year, but peaked at more than US$60 this year.
Despite increasing pressure to reduce oil spending, EVA Airlines' bigger rival China Airlines (華航) also reported strong growth thanks to the economic recovery, which has led to an increase in the number of leisure trips as well as cargo transport demand, company spokesman Roger Han (韓梁中) said.
China Airlines raked in NT$49.8 billion in sales in the first two quarters of the year, jumping by 13.8 percent from a year ago, he said.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by