EVA Airways Corp (EVA, 長榮航空) is mulling a daily flight between Taipei and Paris as a new driver for both sales and profitability.
The nation’s second-largest airline in terms of fleet size operates four flights a week between Taipei and Paris, but hopes to increase the number to seven in the near term, a company executive said before one of the carrier’s Hello Kitty-themed aircraft landed at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport yesterday morning.
“We hope the introduction of the Hello Kitty-themed aircraft for the service between Taipei and Paris helps EVA to gain brand awareness and popularity in the French market, while further helping us win the right to raise flight frequency on this route,” EVA chairman Chang Kuo-wei (張國煒) told reporters before the takeoff, citing the load factor of more than 80 percent on the route.
Photo: Amy Su, Taipei Times
The carrier plans to use the themed plane, a Boeing 777-300ER, to serve three out of four weekly flights between Taipei and Paris, according to Chang, who holds a Boeing 777 pilot’s license and planned to fly the themed plane himself on its return to Taipei later yesterday.
Paris is the themed jet’s first stop in Europe as EVA wants to attract more European passengers to visit Taiwan.
Chang said many Hello Kitty fans in Europe have persistently asked for opportunities to experience the exclusive aircraft since EVA began developing the second-generation themed jets with Sanrio Co Ltd in 2011.
After Laduree, a world-renowned macaron brand in France, also partnered with Sanrio to release Hello Kitty-themed macaron products in 2012, EVA felt the time was right to introduce a themed jet on the Paris route, Chang added.
EVA and Sanrio first launched two Hello Kitty-themed jets in 2005 and 2006. From 2011, the two companies co-developed six second-generation Hello Kitty-themed aircraft.
The carrier has also been flying the themed plane three times a week on the route between Taipei and Los Angeles since last year.
Another five themed Airbus A330 aircraft run regional flights from Taiwan to Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, China and Guam, with each of them bearing different themes.
The operation of the themed jets has helped raise EVA’s total passenger numbers by between 2 percent and 5 percent, the company’s statistics show.
EVA is scheduled to receive delivery of four B777-300ER aircraft next year and plans to use two other Sanrio icons, Kiki and Lala, as the theme for one of the jets, which might fly on the carrier’s new route between Taipei and Houston sometime next year, Chang said.
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