China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) on Monday cut the ticket prices on all its flights after EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) lowered prices on some flights last week, sending the two major airlines into a price war.
With operations back to normal following a strike by its flight attendants, EVA announced a 10-day sales promotion on Saturday, cutting prices on some short-haul and long-haul flights.
Round-trip tickets for flights from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Los Angeles and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Tokyo were reduced to NT$16,339 and NT$6,549 (US$525.52 and US$210.64) respectively, from NT$21,000 and NT$10,000 previously, EVA’s Web site showed.
The airline has lowered its fares in a bid to boost ticket sales, EVA spokesman David Chen (陳耀銘) told the Taipei Times by telephone.
The airline wants to lure customers back, as many of them canceled reservations during the strike to fly with other airlines, he said.
“So far, the strategy has been quite successful, as ticket sales have increased 10 percent compared with sales before Saturday,” Chen said.
Taipei to Los Angles, Taipei to San Francisco and Taipei to Houston, Texas, are the most popular of EVA’s US routes, while Tokyo; Seoul; Osaka, Japan; Bangkok; Bali, Indonesia; Beijing; and Shanghai, China, are the airline’s most popular destinations in Asia, EVA said.
As the special promotion lasts only 10 days, the airline does expect the sale to have a big impact on revenue, EVA said.
COMPETING PROMOTION
CAL on Monday announced its own 10-day promotion to compete with EVA, saying that it needed to undercut its rival’s prices.
A ticket from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Los Angeles would only cost NT$13,740, the airline said.
While EVA requires passengers to use tickets purchased in the promotion by the end of this year, CAL said that its campaign allows passengers to use the promotional tickets on short-haul flights until January next year and on long-haul flights until June next year.
The airline expects the promotion to help it sell previously unsold seats, CAL spokesman Jason Liu (劉朝洋) said by telephone.
“Cutting prices could successfully attract people who originally did not plan to travel abroad, while those who purchase seats in business class would not be attracted by the price cut,” Liu said.
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