Shares of China Airlines (中華航空) and EVA Airways (長榮航空) rallied in yesterday morning‘s trade on increased optimism toward their earnings outlook after direct flights between Taipei International Airport (Songshan) and Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) resumed a day earlier following a 31-year hiatus, dealers said.
China Airlines rose 4.61 percent to NT$24.95, while EVA Air gained 6.47 percent to NT$32.90.
China Airlines and EVA Air will provide 14 Taipei-Tokyo return flights each week.
According to Hua Nan Securities (華南永昌投顧), the resumption of direct flights between the two airports is expected to boost the number of Japanese tourists visiting Taiwan by about 10 percent a year.
BENEFICIARIES
“Without doubt, China Airlines and EVA Air are the two direct beneficiaries of the flight resumption,” Hua Nan analyst Henry Miao (苗台生) said.
“The strong buying seen this morning reflects investors’ upbeat mood about the two carriers,” Miao said.
Hua Nan Securities said the new route’s contribution to the two carriers’ sales would become clearer next year, as the contribution to this year’s revenues would be minimal because there are only two months remaining.
Taking the Taipei-Tokyo flights into account, Hua Nan Securities said China Airlines was expected to post earnings per share of NT$2.79 this year and NT$3.07 next year. This compares with a loss per share of NT$0.83 last year, when the global economic meltdown hit the airline business.
Hua Nan Securities forecast EVA would register earnings per share of NT$4.84 for this year and NT$5.08 next year, compared with a loss of NT$0.96 last year.
CONVENIENCE
China Airlines said on Sunday the Taipei-Tokyo flights were expected to have an average capacity of 80 percent because of the increased convenience it offers travelers.
Landing at Haneda rather than at Narita International Airport — the usual destination for international flights, which is farther from Tokyo — can save travelers at least 30 minutes on the commute into Japan’s capital.
Hua Nan Securities had a target price of NT$28 for China Airlines and NT$38 for EVA Air.
TECH TITAN: Pandemic-era demand for semiconductors turbocharged the nation’s GDP per capita to surpass South Korea’s, but it still remains half that of Singapore Taiwan is set to surpass South Korea this year in terms of wealth for the first time in more than two decades, marking a shift in Asia’s economic ranks made possible by the ascent of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電). According to the latest forecasts released on Thursday by the central bank, Taiwan’s GDP is expected to expand 4.55 percent this year, a further upward revision from the 4.45 percent estimate made by the statistics bureau last month. The growth trajectory puts Taiwan on track to exceed South Korea’s GDP per capita — a key measure of living standards — a
Samsung Electronics Co shares jumped 4.47 percent yesterday after reports it has won approval from Nvidia Corp for the use of advanced high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, which marks a breakthrough for the South Korean technology leader. The stock closed at 83,500 won in Seoul, the highest since July 31 last year. Yesterday’s gain comes after local media, including the Korea Economic Daily, reported that Samsung’s 12-layer HBM3E product recently passed Nvidia’s qualification tests. That clears the components for use in the artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators essential to the training of AI models from ChatGPT to DeepSeek (深度求索), and finally allows Samsung
READY TO HELP: Should TSMC require assistance, the government would fully cooperate in helping to speed up the establishment of the Chiayi plant, an official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said its investment plans in Taiwan are “unchanged” amid speculation that the chipmaker might have suspended construction work on its second chip packaging plant in Chiayi County and plans to move equipment arranged for the plant to the US. The Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported earlier yesterday that TSMC had halted the construction of the chip packaging plant, which was scheduled to be completed next year and begin mass production in 2028. TSMC did not directly address whether construction of the plant had halted, but said its investment plans in Taiwan remain “unchanged.” The chipmaker started
Taiwan has imposed restrictions on the export of chips to South Africa over national security concerns, taking the unusual step of using its dominance of chip markets to pressure a country that is closely allied with China. Taiwan requires preapproval for the bulk of chips sold to the African nation, the International Trade Administration said in a statement. The decision emerged after Pretoria tried to downgrade Taipei’s representative office and force its move to Johannesburg from Pretoria, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said. The move reflects Taiwan’s economic clout and a growing frustration with getting sidelined by Beijing in the diplomatic community. Taiwan