Local airline companies have launched a second round of “flights to nowhere” for the Qixi Festival (七夕情人節), or Lovers’ Day, in an effort to recover some revenue lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) is offering two “Love is in the Air” flights on Saturday next week, three days before the festival, allowing couples to enjoy an entire three-seat row to themselves, which helps with social distancing, it said yesterday.
Like its first special flights program, its A321-neo planes would not land in any foreign airport, but would drop to an altitude of between 2,438m and 4,572m, compared with regular commercial flights’ altitude of above 9,144m to give passengers a better view of Taiwan’s coast and the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島), the airline said.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
A total of 376 slots for the two flights were sold out within five minutes after going on sale yesterday, much better than the company expected, Starlux spokesman Nieh Kuo-wei (聶國維) told the Taipei Times by telephone.
With tickets priced at NT$5,520 (US$187) for an economy-class seat and NT$12,520 for a business-class seats along with accommodation at a five-star hotel, Starlux is expected to make at least NT$2.18 million in revenue from the two flights.
“It is not our goal to make a good profit from the ‘fly-to-nowhere’ programs, as we have to spend more time and resources designing these products and gaining approval from the regulator. It would be good if we could break even,” Nieh said.
However, consumers who are satisfied with Starlux’s special program and services might turn into loyal clients who would continue flying with the airline after the pandemic, he said.
China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), which is also slated to launch one Lovers’ Day inspired flight for Saturday next week, saw all of its 108 seats sold out yesterday.
With tickets priced at NT$7,374 for an economy-class seat and NT$8,899 for a business-class seat, CAL is expected to post revenue of NT$808,592 from the flight.
CAL offered its first “fly-to-nowhere” program on Father’s Day and is to offer a second flight today.
“These programs are specially designed due to the pandemic, but I do not think that their revenue could replace those generated by our regular flights,” CAL spokesman Jason Liu (劉朝洋) said by telephone.
EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) said that these special programs help maintain cash flow, but could not offset lost revenue due to the cancelation of international flights, an official said by telephone yesterday.
“It is better than doing nothing... For example, when passengers buy duty-free goods on board, duty-free stores, which have also been affected by the outbreak, benefit, too,” the official said.
Tigerair Taiwan Ltd (台灣虎航), the nation’s only low-cost carrier, is planning to launch more “fly-to-nowhere” programs by the end of this year, which would feature different themes and routes so consumers would not be bored, spokesman Bernard Hsu (許致遠) said by telephone.
As the carrier used to focus on flights between Taiwan and neighboring countries such as Japan and South Korea, it needs to do more research for the special programs, Hsu said.
“As such programs are conducted twice a month at most, we cannot rely on them [for income], but count more on the cargo business,” Hsu said.
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