TransAsia Airways Corp (復興航空), a Taiwanese carrier focusing on regional passenger routes in Asia, expects revenue next year to grow 30 percent from a year earlier, as it continues to launch new routes, a company official said yesterday.
Sales could surpass NT$10 billion (US$343.6 million) next year, marking the highest in the company’s history. The airline posted NT$8.74 billion in revenue last year.
In the first 11 months of the year, TransAsia posted sales of NT$8.68 billion, up 8.29 percent from a year earlier, company data showed.
“TransAsia is entering an expansion period,” chief commercial officer Chooi Yee-choong (徐以聰), who joined the management team in the middle of last month, told a media briefing.
The airline welcomed its first A330-300 aircraft last month, with the plane set to make its maiden flight from Taipei to Singapore on Dec. 30, Chooi said.
After taking delivery of its second A330-300 aircraft from France-based Airbus SAS next month, TransAsia is looking to launch more regional services in Asia next year, he added.
The carrier is looking to open routes to Bangkok and Tokyo, Chooi said, adding that at least one new route would be launched in the first half of next year.
TranAsia hopes to commence flights between Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Tokyo’s Narita International Airport in the near future, he said.
It may also consider launching flights between Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) and Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, he added.
For its current operational routes — to Macau, South Korea, Singapore, China and Japan — Chooi said the carrier hoped to increase its flight frequency if it could obtain additional quotas.
Chooi was optimistic about revenue growth momentum in the current quarter amid the increase in capacity, saying sales were in line with company expectations.
“The fourth quarter is not bad ... year-end demand is holding up well,” he said.
The airline also unveiled its early bird offers for budget travelers in the Asia-Pacific region, part of its strategy to expand its market share.
The special promotions are only available online and applicable between March and October next year. They cannot be used during the summer break, the Tomb-Sweeping Festival in early April and the Mid-Autumn Festival in late September, it added.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
STILL LOADED: Last year’s richest person, Quanta Computer Inc chairman Barry Lam, dropped to second place despite an 8 percent increase in his wealth to US$12.6 billion Staff writer, with CNA Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠) and Richard Tsai (蔡明興), the brothers who run Fubon Group (富邦集團), topped the Forbes list of Taiwan’s 50 richest people this year, released on Wednesday in New York. The magazine said that a stronger New Taiwan dollar pushed the combined wealth of Taiwan’s 50 richest people up 13 percent, from US$174 billion to US$197 billion, with 36 of the people on the list seeing their wealth increase. That came as Taiwan’s economy grew 4.6 percent last year, its fastest pace in three years, driven by the strong performance of the semiconductor industry, the magazine said. The Tsai
RSS