Budget carrier Tigerair Taiwan, a joint venture between Taiwan’s China Airlines and Singapore’s Tiger Airways, said yesterday it would obtain the first Airbus 320 of a planned 12-plane fleet today.
With 180 seats, the aircraft offer considerably more capacity than those usually used by legacy airlines for regional flights, according to the airline.
The company is gearing up for the launch of daily round-trip flights to Singapore on Sept. 26 by offering up to 10,000 one-way tickets at a cost of no more than NT$1,000 (US$33) during a promotional period.
The carrier is hoping to tap into the budget-airline market, which has served 1.88 million passengers to and from Taiwan during the first seven months of the year, according to the Civil Aeronautics Administration.
That puts this year’s passenger numbers on track to far exceed last year’s 2 million, which was more than the double the 930,000 passengers carried on low-cost airlines in 2012, the administration’s data indicated.
There are 13 low-cost carriers operating in Taiwan, with V Air, which was established in November last year as a low-cost subsidiary of Taiwan’s TransAsia Airways, likely to enter the market later this year.
The budget carriers operating a Taiwan-Singapore route are Tiger Airways, Jetstar and Scoot, while legacy carriers CAL, EVA Airways and Singapore Airlines also fly the route.
The average passenger load factor on the route is about 90 percent, according to the administration, adding that fierce market competition could be good news to customers as ticket prices could be driven down.
Tigerair Taiwan said earlier that it was also considering routes to Macau, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea in its initial flight network.
In December last year, China Airlines and Tiger Airways agreed to set up Tigerair Taiwan to tap into the budget airline business.
CAL holds a 90 percent stake with an investment of NT$1.8 billion in the new carrier, which has paid-in capital of NT$2 billion.
RESOLUTIONS DEBATE: Taiwan’s allies said that UN and WHA resolutions cited by China and other nations ‘do not determine Taiwan’s participation in WHO activities’ A proposal to invite Taiwan to this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) was rejected on Monday, resulting in Taipei’s absence from the annual meeting for a ninth consecutive year, although partners spoke up for Taiwan’s participation at the first day of the meeting. The first agenda item after the opening was a “two-on-two debate” on a proposal to invite Taiwan to participate at the WHA as an observer. Similar to previous years, two countries made statements in favor of the proposal, while two others expressed their opposition. Philippine Secretary of Health Teodoro Herbosa, president of the 78th WHA, accepted the WHA General Committee’s
Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr arrived in Taiwan last night to kick off his first visit to the country since beginning his second term earlier this year. After arriving at Taoyuan International Airport at around 6:30 pm, Whipps and his delegation were welcomed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍). Speaking to gathered media, the Palauan leader said he was excited and honored to be back in Taiwan on his first state visit to Taiwan since he was sworn in this January. Among those traveling with Whipps is Minister of State Gustav N. Aitaro, Public Infrastructure
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) on Friday laid out the Cabinet’s updated policy agenda and recapped the government’s achievements ahead of the one-year anniversary of President William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration. Cho said the government had made progress across a range of areas, including rebuilding Hualien, cracking down on fraud, improving pedestrian safety and promoting economic growth. “I hope the public will not have the impression that the Cabinet only asked the legislature to reconsider a bunch of legal amendments,” Cho said, calling the moves “necessary” to protect constitutional governance and the public’s interest. The Cabinet would work toward achieving its “1+7” plan, he said. The
Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) hosted a dinner in Taipei last night with key Taiwanese suppliers to celebrate the successful mass production of the company’s new Blackwell AI systems. Speaking to the media earlier yesterday, Huang thanked Nvidia’s Taiwanese partners for their contributions to the company’s ecosystem, while also sharing his plans to meet with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀). In response to rumors that Nvidia will launch a downgraded Hopper H20 chip for China in July, Huang dismissed the reports, saying, “That is not true.” He clarified that there
RSS