US carrier Delta Air Lines Inc yesterday said it would terminate all services to Taiwan effective May 25.
Delta currently operates one round-trip flight per day between Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Narita Airport in Tokyo, catering mostly to passengers traveling to and from the US via Japan.
The flight between Taoyuan and Narita on May 24 will be the last one on that route, the carrier said.
Delta said it plans to shift more flights to Tokyo Haneda Airport, but did not explain why that would mean closing the Taiwan route, which it has operated since 2010.
The US-based Star Tribune said in a report in August last year that Delta was ending some of its Narita routes as a result of changes to aviation rules.
The newspaper said the decision signaled a shift in Delta’s Asia model away from megahubs and toward direct flights.
The airline was seeking to rework its Asia network map to make it competitive with other large US carriers that were vying for dominance in the region, the Tribune said.
Delta has fewer connecting routes to other Asian destinations via Haneda, because it lacks partners with fortress hubs there, the report added.
“Without a significant network restructuring, Delta’s position in the region would be significantly weakened,” Delta senior vice president of Asia Pacific Vinay Dube said.
Delta shares dropped 1.1 percent on Thursday in New York trading after the company reported a 37 percent fall in fourth-quarter net profit.
The airline’s net income fell to US$622 million due to a small drop in revenue and the costs of new pilot labor contracts.
The previous year, Delta earned US$980 million.
Delta said passengers in Taiwan affected by its latest decision would be transferred to members of the SkyTeam Airline Alliance, which includes China Airlines Ltd (中華航空) and Korean Air Lines Co.
Local travel agencies said the impact of Delta’s withdrawal from Taiwan was likely to be limited.
Lion Travel Service Co (雄獅旅行社) and Star Travel Corp (燦星旅遊) said the number of travelers affected might be less than 1 percent of their total customers since there are plenty of flight options between Taoyuan and Narita, including flights on budget airlines.
Passengers who wish to take direct flights from Taiwan to the US can also choose China Airlines, EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) or United Airlines, the travel agencies said.
UNPRECEDENTED PACE: Micron Technology has announced plans to expand manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a new chip plant in Miaoli Micron Technology Inc unveiled a newly acquired chip plant in Miaoli County yesterday, as the company expands capacity to meet growing demand for advanced DRAM chips, including high-bandwidth memory chips amid the artificial intelligence boom. The plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which Micron acquired from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion, is expected to make a sizeable capacity contribution to the company from fiscal 2028, the company said in a statement. It would be an extended production site of Micron’s large-scale manufacturing hub in Taichung, the company said. As the global semiconductor industry is racing to reach US$1 trillion
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
Memory chip stocks extended their losses yesterday after Alphabet Inc’s Google publicized research that could allow more efficient use of the storage needed for artificial intelligence (AI) development. SK Hynix Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, South Korean leaders in the market, fell more than 6 percent and about 5 percent respectively in Seoul. In the US, Micron Technology Inc, Western Digital Corp and Sandisk Corp slid more than 2 percent in pre-market trading, after they all closed lower on Wednesday. Memory companies have been on a tear in recent months as the rapid development of AI infrastructure triggered a spike in chip
RSS