TransAsia Airways Corp (TNA, 復興航空) yesterday said it would establish a low-cost carrier subsidiary within one year to meet rising demand.
The company, which mainly serves passengers on regional and cross-strait routes, said it planned to invest between NT$2 billion and NT$3 billion (between US$66.7 million and US$100 million) to operate the subsidiary.
To compete with the 12 foreign budget airlines already operating in Taiwan, TransAsia’s carrier is to capitalize on its locally based customer service to communicate directly with travelers.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
“This will be the only carrier that prioritizes Taiwanese demand and habits,” TransAsia chairman Vincent Lin (林明昇) told a press conference.
The new subsidiary is to target destinations that are within a five-hour flying range of Taiwan, Lin said, adding that the new carrier is to use Airbus SAS’ 320 and 321 series aircraft as its main fleet.
TransAsia received an official notification from the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) earlier this week for the permission to set up the first low-cost carrier in Taiwan.
The company yesterday unveiled a month-long campaign inviting the public to name the new carrier, saying the winner is to be entitled to an exclusive offer of unlimited free TransAsia flights over the next 10 years.
Following the establishment of the new budget brand, Lin said TNA may also start a new round of transformation next year, aiming to provide more diversified options to passengers, with details to be released in the near future.
The company may either buy or lease up to three new airplanes for the airline’s operations next year, he added.
China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), the nation’s largest carrier, is reportedly also mulling a new budget airline, with the final assessment to be finalized by the end of the year.
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said second-quarter revenue is expected to surpass the first quarter, which rose 30 percent year-on-year to NT$118.92 billion (US$3.71 billion). Revenue this quarter is likely to grow, as US clients have front-loaded orders ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on Taiwanese goods, Delta chairman Ping Cheng (鄭平) said at an earnings conference in Taipei, referring to the 90-day pause in tariff implementation Trump announced on April 9. While situations in the third and fourth quarters remain unclear, “We will not halt our long-term deployments and do not plan to
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar