Southeast Asia’s biggest low-cost carrier, AirAsia Bhd, is scheduled to launch a new route from Taipei to east Malaysia in January, marking its third route from Taiwan within six months.
The company is set to fly between Taipei and Kota Kinabalu in Sabah state starting on Jan. 15, with promotional rates starting at NT$699 (US$21) one-way, the company told a press conference yesterday.
AirAsia launched flights between Taipei and Kuala Lumpur in July and between Taipei and Bangkok in September.
“The Taiwanese market has given us a vote of confidence, with a lot of young adults, white collar workers and small families taking our flights,” said Kathleen Tan (陳凱霖), AirAsia’s senior vice president for the Asia-Pacific region.
The launch of the budget airline’s routes has created a new market in Taiwan for flights attractive to adventurous young adults, she said.
Citing data from the Tourism Bureau, she said visits by Taiwanese to Malaysia rose 20 percent in July, reversing a year-on-year drop of 30 percent a month earlier. That showed the market’s potential she said, as AirAsia launched its flights in July.
Some tourists heading to farther destinations take advantage of AirAsia’s budget flights to fly from Taipei to Kuala Lumpur, then transit to London or Melbourne, she said.
Current loading rates for the Kuala Lumpur route is just under 90 percent of passenger capacity and 70 percent for the Bangkok route, she said.
Malaysia-based AirAsia said it may add a second daily Taipei-Kuala Lumpur flight and launch Kaohsiung-Sabah flights next year after celebrating its eighth anniversary next month.
The expansion of AirAsia in Taiwan has attracted the interest of travel agencies.
Futon Travel Service Co (富騰旅行社) is one of them. Futon makes bulk purchases of tickets from AirAsia and sells them to consumers with a service charge.
Because AirAsia’s online prices rise as more tickets sell, Futon’s tickets may still be cheaper even with the service charge as the seats are pre-purchased, general manager John Hsu (徐廷忠) said.
A round-trip ticket AirAsia to Kuala Lumpur from Taipei generally costs around NT$4,000 — only a third of the price offered by EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) and China Airlines Ltd (中華航空) — Hsu said.
This is even attracting part of the business-traveler market amid the sluggish economy, he added.
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