■ Aviation
Tiger to offer US$6 flights
Budget carrier Tiger Airways announced yesterday it is offering one-way fares at US$6 to its entire network of 10 cities in six Southeast Asian countries. The booking period starts today through April 1 and is valid for mid-week travel on Mondays to Thursdays from July 1 until Oct. 29. The carrier, owned by Singapore Airlines (SIA), said that the offer coincided with a celebration of the completion of its "first-phase network expansion." The airline is extending the low fares to all the cities it covers including Singapore, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Hatyai, Phuket, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Macau, Padang and Manila. Tiger is the first budget airline to be granted landing rights for Padang, the provincial capital of West Sumatra in Indonesia.
■ Aviation
AirAsia in deal with Airbus
Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia has inked a contract to buy 60 new Airbus aircraft, with an option to purchase another 40 A320 jets as part of its regional expansion, a report said yesterday. With the order and option commitment, AirAsia in a statement to Bernama news agency said it had become the single largest customer for Airbus in the Asia-Pacific region. The airline in December said it would buy 40 Airbus aircraft and exercise an option to buy another 40 A320 jets to maintain its position as Asia's leading budget airline. AirAsia said it decided to increase the Airbus order after the rollout and the success of its Indonesian operations, PTAWAIR International (AWAIR). "Within three months of its operations, AWAIR has carried over 120,000 guests and introduced flights to five domestic destinations in Indonesia," it said.
■ Agriculture
New mad cow case
Japan's Health Ministry confirmed the country's 16th case of mad-cow disease, one day before its Food Safety Commission meets to discuss lifting a ban on US beef imports. A nine-year-old Holstein cow raised in Hokkaido and slaughtered on March 24 tested positive for mad cow, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said in a statement on its Web site. Japan has screened every cow slaughtered since September 2001 when it found its first mad-cow case, and halted imports of US beef in December 2003 after a cow in Washington state was discovered to be BSE-infected.
■ Retail
Tiffany cited as target
Tiffany & Co, the largest US jewelry retailer, may be a target for a takeover, Barron's reported, citing money manager and shareholder Shawn Krevetz of Esplanade Capital in Boston. The company may fetch US$40 to US$50 a share in a takeover, Krevetz told the weekly business newspaper. He said Coach Inc would be a good match for Tiffany. Andrea Resnick, Coach's vice president of investor relations, told Barron's the company "isn't interested in making acquisitions." Other potential suitors for Tiffany included Europe's LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, the world's biggest luxury goods maker, Barron's said. Mark Aaron, Tiffany's vice president for investor relations, declined to comment to Barron's about "market rumors." Tiffany recently lowered its profit growth targets because of missteps in Japan, which accounted for one-fourth of the company's US$2.2 billion in sales in the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, the newspaper said.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
SHOT IN THE ARM: The new system can be integrated with Avenger and Stinger missiles to bolster regional air defense capabilities, a defense ministry report said Domestically developed Land Sword II (陸射劍二) missiles were successfully launched and hit target drones during a live-fire exercise at the Jiupeng Military Base in Pingtung County yesterday. The missiles, developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST), were originally scheduled to launch on Tuesday last week, after the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday long weekend, but were postponed to yesterday due to weather conditions. Local residents and military enthusiasts gathered outside the base to watch the missile tests, with the first one launching at 9:10am. The Land Sword II system, which is derived from the Sky Sword II (天劍二) series, was turned