TransAsia Airways Corp’s (復興航空) shares climbed on their first day of trading on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE, 台灣證交所) yesterday, outpacing other airlines’ stocks amid high investor interest.
The carrier’s shares rose 27.78 percent, or NT$5, to close at NT$23 on the local bourse, higher than share prices of the other two listed airlines, China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) and EVA Airways Corp (EVA, 長榮航空), which closed at NT$15.45 and NT$22.05 respectively, TWSE data showed.
“We expect TransAsia to be a brand that is trusted by the public after it passed the high standards of the TWSE listing examination,” company chairman Vincent Lin (林明昇) said after the carrier’s listing ceremony.
Photo: CNA
After raising NT$898 million (US$29.85 million) in funds, TransAsia registered a total of NT$5.54 billion in capital on the local bourse. The company will soon launch its second-phase capital raising plan, Lin said.
Despite the recent global economic slowdown, Lin eyed growing momentum on routes within Asia, saying that they would benefit TransAsia for the next five to 10 years.
“We expect the company’s revenues to continue rising next year as we focus on cross-strait and other Asian routes, especially since the company is still young and therefore has a relatively wider space in which to grow,” Lin said.
The company would keep expanding into new Asian routes, including more cross-strait routes and flights to Malaysia, Indonesia and South Korea, by fully coordinating with the government’s policy on open skies and air rights, Lin added.
In addition, TransAsia might rent a hangar at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport next year to help manage its fleet expansion.
The carrier, currently based at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), has ordered two Airbus A330 and 12 Airbus A321-series aircraft, with the first plane set to be delivered in November next year and the last delivered by 2020.
Since the carrier still has the option to order six additional A321-series airplanes, renting a bigger hangar would be necessary, the company said.
Lin said the company might start building its own maintenance facility once the fleet reaches a size that would make such a plan economically viable.
“Owning a total of eight or nine aircraft of a single model would be a prerequisite for the plan,” Lin said.
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