V Air (威航), a low-cost carrier that is part of the TransAsia Airways Group (復興航空集團), is to launch its maiden flight today from Taipei to Bangkok, with plans to operate between eight and 10 routes by the end of next year.
The carrier is to launch a chartered flight service to Siem Reap in Cambodia on Jan. 6 and start operating its second regular route to Thailand on Jan. 7, which will fly from Taipei to Chiang Mai.
TransAsia and V Air chairman Vincent Lin (林明昇) said that aside from its service network, the low-cost carrier also plans to expand its fleet, aiming to have five aircraft covering eight to 10 routes by the end of next year.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Lin said that routes to Northeast Asia, such as to major cities in Japan and South Korea, are V Air’s next potential market, with the company seeking to launch flights to destinations in that area in the first half of next year.
The expansion plan is aimed at helping V Air reach economies of scale and allow the airline to break even and start generating profit in 2016, Lin said.
The recent decline in global crude oil prices is also expected to contribute to the carrier’s profitability, he added.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
The carrier is the second budget airline to start operating in the nation, after Tigerair Taiwan (台灣虎航) — a joint venture between China Airlines (中華航空) and Singapore’s Tiger Airways — began its flight service in September.
V Air chief executive Eleni Lung (隆章琪) forecasts that the budget airline’s average passenger loading factor for this month and next month would be 80 and 70 percent respectively, after the airline started receiving orders two weeks ago.
More than 80 percent of those orders have come from business-to-customer electronic commerce via its Web site, in line with the company’s expectations, Lung added.
In addition to route and fleet expansion, V Air plans to develop more merchandise either via an online store on PChome Online (PChome線上購物) or in-flight shopping, with the company aiming to make the sector’s sales account for 20 percent of its revenue in the future.
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