Budget airlines V Air and Tigerair Taiwan yesterday denied reports that they are planning to fold due to massive financial losses.
The denials came in the wake of a Central News Agency (CNA) report that V Air and Tigerair have each suffered financial losses of more than NT$1 billion (US$31.5 million) since launching their services in September and December 2014 respectively.
As the losses have exceeded half of their capital, the story said that both airlines are discussing what they would do next.
The report added that the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) was to meet with the management of TransAsia Airways — the parent company of V Air — as the situation needed immediate attention.
Tigerair Taiwan’s situation is different as it has more flights and a larger fleet, the CAA said.
V Air denied it has plans to shut down, adding that it has recently published its winter schedule.
However, it said it has reduced its weekly flights from 50 to 47 from Oct. 30 to March 25 next year.
The three flights that were cut from the schedule were those from Taoyuan to Nagoya, which were reduced from seven to four per week, the airline said.
V Air added that it has suspended a plan to double its fleet size from four to eight next year.
The performance of all flights in operation will be closely scrutinized and reviewed after the summer vacation, it added.
The airline has an average occupancy rate of 75 percent, with the average occupancy rate for its Bangkok and Chiang Mai flights reaching 85 percent.
CNA published another report last night saying that the CAA met with TransAsia Airways management yesterday to discuss V Air’s situation.
After being briefed by TransAsia about V Air’s operations, the CAA reminded the company about its duty to protect the rights of its employees and passengers, the report said.
The agency added that since TransAsia is a publicly traded firm, it has first to secure approval from its board of directors for any change in its operating model, including whether it plans to merge with V Air or shut down the budget carrier.
Tigerair Taiwan also denied plans to shut down its operations, adding that it is launching a new flight to Hakodate, Japan, on Friday next week.
Asked about its decision to cancel a planned flight service to Sapporo, Japan, which would have started on Sept. 13, the company cited the lack of ground crew for refueling as the main reason for the suspension.
However, with supply outpacing demand on Japanese routes, Tigerair said it is considering merging flights that have consistently low occupancy rates.
Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), a film by Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎) and cowritten by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker, won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at the Cannes Critics’ Week on Wednesday. The award, which includes a 20,000 euro (US$22,656) prize, is intended to support the French release of a first or second feature film by a new director. According to Critics’ Week, the prize would go to the film’s French distributor, Le Pacte. "A melodrama full of twists and turns, Left-Handed Girl retraces the daily life of a single mother and her two daughters in Taipei, combining the irresistible charm of
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
88.2 PERCENT INCREASE: The variants driving the current outbreak are not causing more severe symptoms, but are ‘more contagious’ than previous variants, an expert said Number of COVID-19 cases in the nation is surging, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describing the ongoing wave of infections as “rapid and intense,” and projecting that the outbreak would continue through the end of July. A total of 19,097 outpatient and emergency visits related to COVID-19 were reported from May 11 to Saturday last week, an 88.2 percent increase from the previous week’s 10,149 visits, CDC data showed. The nearly 90 percent surge in case numbers also marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase, although the total remains below the 23,778 recorded during the same period last year,
RSS