Start-up Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) earlier this month had a fresh capital injection of NT$4 billion (US$136.94 million) at the request of the country’s top aviation regulator, after the airline reported a net loss of NT$3.01 billion for the whole of last year.
Ninety percent of the NT$4 billion came from Starlux chairman Chang Kuo-wei (張國煒) and the other 10 percent from other major shareholders and StarLux employees, the airline said in a statement yesterday.
Starlux said it would continue to review whether more capital is needed.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
The injection brought the airline’s paid-in capital to NT$15.36 billion, company data showed.
Starlux, which was established in 2018 and offered its first flight in January 2020, has had a bumpy ride because of the COVID-19 pandemic — it reported an aggregate net loss of NT$5.4 billion over the past two years, the largest loss among local airlines, data released by the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) showed.
Late last year, the CAA required the airline to increase its capital because its accumulated losses totaled NT$6.93 billion, more than half of its paid-in capital of NT$11.36 billion.
Unlike other airlines that have shifted to air cargo to offset the loss in passenger revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic, Starlux’s cargo capacity is limited, as it only operated six single-aisle Airbus A321neo planes last year, company data showed.
However, the airline said it still tried to increase its revenue by shifting its flights to destinations with stable passenger demand, as well as cities that are hubs for cargo operations, it said.
Starlux’s revenue last year totaled NT$795 million, doubling from a year earlier and ranking fifth in Taiwan, after China Airlines (CAL, 中華航空), EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空), Uni Airways Co (立榮航空) and Mandarin Airlines (華信航空), CAA data showed.
Starlux’s growth in revenue is the highest among local airlines, followed by CAL’s 24 percent rise and EVA Airways’ 20 percent increase, the CAA data showed.
However, Starlux’s net assets per share last year stood at NT$3.96, the lowest among local airlines, while its debt ratio was 82 percent, the second-biggest after Daily Air Corp’s (德安航空) 87 percent, the data showed.
The airline said it plans to receive more A321neo jets and A330neo planes this year to expand its capacity on the expectation that air travel would recover as countries ease their border controls.
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