Major airlines expect sales momentum this quarter to beat seasonality to remain flat from the third quarter — the traditional peak period for the sector — mainly driven by strong passenger demand on routes to Japan following the Japanese yen’s latest depreciation.
The Japanese currency has shrunk under the 115 yen mark versus the US dollar, after the Bank of Japan announced last week it is expanding its monetary easing policy to fight against deflation.
So far this week, the yen has depreciated about 3.5 percent against the greenback.
China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) chairman Sun Hung-hsiang (孫洪祥) said the continued weakness of the yen is beneficial for the company’s sales, adding that he hoped more Taiwanese would be interested in visiting Japan.
“Sales from Japanese routes are always an important source of earnings for CAL,” Sun told reporters at the annual Taipei International Travel Fair yesterday.
Sales generated from the routes to Japan currently account for about 20 percent of CAL’s passenger business, with the company expecting consolidated sales this year to rise 7 to 8 percent from last year, Sun said.
EVA Airways Corp (EVA, 長榮航空) president Austin Cheng (鄭傳義) shared Sun’s views.
“We have not yet seen the momentum of the company’s Japanese routes show any sign of slowing down,” Cheng said.
Cheng said the stronger-than-expected demand on Japanese routes might help the company’s sales in the October-to-December period beat seasonality.
TransAsia Airways Corp’s (TNA, 復興航空) new president Fred Wu (吳滬生) also expects the carrier’s sales in the last three months of the year to remain flat from the July-to-September period — the traditional peak season for the carrier’s passenger business — because of the higher sales contribution from Japanese routes.
The carrier plans to expand its fleet to meet rising demand for Japan-bound flights, as well as launches more promotion activities to seize the growing business opportunities, he said.
In related news, the nation’s two listed freight forwarders and logistics operators have seen their profitability for the first nine months of the year show a significant increase from last year due to better product mix and customer structure.
Dimerco Express Group (中菲行國際物流) saw net profit total NT$187.52 million (US$6.1 million), or NT$1.45 per share, in the first nine months of the year, up 81.2 percent from the same period last year, a company statement showed.
THI Global Holdings Corp (台驊國際投資控股) also posted net profit of NT$179.29 million, or NT$1.94 per share, in the first nine months of the year, up 79.6 percent from the same period last year and marking the highest period level in its history, company statistics showed.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last