A Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) report shows that the increase in low-cost carriers has helped lower ticket prices for short-distance flights and attract more tourists from South Korea and Southeast Asian nations.
Twenty low-cost carriers from Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines are offering flight services in Taiwan.
Malindo Air, a Malaysia-based budget airline, has announced that it would launch flights from Taiwan in June, which would make it the 21st low-cost carrier in the nation.
The report, which was made public yesterday, showed that Jetstar Asia was the first low-cost carrier to launch flights when it began operations in 2004. By 2012, nine low-cost carriers were offering flights from Taiwan, with the number of passengers using them rising to 1.25 million.
The number of low-cost carriers increased to 19 last year, carrying 4.73 million passengers.
The report showed that the budget airlines had helped to expand the market and bring in new customers. While passengers flying with full-service carriers grew 3 percent between 2004 and last year, the number flying with low-cost carriers grew by 63 percent during the same period.
The report said that between 74 percent and 90 percent of passengers on flights to South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong and the Philippines are international travelers. Flights to Thailand and Japan have a relatively lower percentage of international travelers, between 30 percent and 41 percent respectively.
The report showed that 60 percent of low-cost carrier flights are to Japan and South Korea, 30 percent to the Southeast Asian nations and 10 percent to China, Hong Kong or Macau.
The increase in the number of budget airlines has also helped to lower ticket prices, it said.
One of the examples included in the report is flights to Singapore, where low-cost carriers account for 47 percent of the market. On average, a ticket for a low-cost carrier flight to Singapore costs an average of NT$6,959, while the price of a full-service carrier flight has fallen from an average of NT$14,879 in 2012 to NT$12,361 last year.
Another example was flights to Japan, where close to 30 percent of the market is taken by low-cost carriers. The average ticket price for a full-service carrier flight has dropped from NT$13,392 to NT$11,065 last year, while the average price for a low-cost carrier flight is NT$7,000.
CAA Air Transport Division head Han Chen-hua (韓振華) said that the government would continue supporting the development of low-cost carriers, as they have had a positive influence in terms of lowering ticket prices and diversifying flight sources for international tourists.
However, Han said that complaints about low-cost carriers have also increased rapidly, something that the agency must address.
Because Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is unlikely to be able to accommodate many more airlines, Han said that new low-cost carriers would be encouraged to base their operations at airports in central and southern Taiwan.
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