BR(*)/CI™ | Taiwan-Based Carriers

[deasine]

This thread will be the discussion thread for all carriers based in Taiwan.

The discussion from the following threads, which have already been closed and archived, should now be going into this one.

• CN/HK/TW | Cross Strait Aviation News

[deasine]

EVA, CAL post improved second-quarter revenues

REBOUND:As passenger business rose, the nation’s two leading air carriers reported a decrease in cargo business compared with the first half of last year

By Amy Su / Staff Reporter

The nation’s two largest airlines posted improving quarterly revenues for the second quarter amid robust seasonal demand for passenger business.

EVA Airways Corp (EVA, 長榮航空), the nation’s second-largest air carrier, posted NT$25.67 billion (US$891.47 million) in revenues for the second quarter, up 6.14 percent from a quarter earlier, according to the company’s financial data.
“The improving demand on the passenger business drove up the company’s second-quarter revenues,” company public relations manager Eric Lin (林司忠) said by telephone yesterday.

The rebounding passenger business also led to higher second-quarter revenues for China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), the nation’s largest air carrier, with revenues surging 2.92 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$32.47 billion, the company said in a statement.
Primasia Investment Consultancy Co said in a note yesterday that rising fuel costs might place pressure on the two airlines’ profits in the second quarter.

In the first half, CAL reported losses per share of NT$0.08, while EVA posted earnings per share of NT$0.09.

Lin said EVA remained optimistic about the passenger business in the third quarter as demand always rises during the summer vacation.

“For this month’s and next month’s passenger flights, the average passenger occupancy rate will be higher than 80 percent,” he said.

He added that flights to Japan are also returning to the 80 percent level, showing that the impact of the March 11 earthquake was beginning to lessen.

Compared with passenger business, the two carriers’ revenues from their cargo business showed a decrease in the first half of the year as last year’s extraordinarily high cargo revenues created an unfavorable comparison.

CAL chairman Chang Chia-juch (張家祝) told reporters last month that the company’s cargo business was expected to contribute more to revenues in the second half of the year, as overseas vendors and manufacturers move to replenish inventories.
Lin said yesterday that EVA also expected the cargo business to return to a “normal pace” this year.

He added that demand may climb in the fourth quarter, its traditional peak season.
Last month, CAL posted NT$11.04 billion in revenues, up 3.7 percent from a month earlier, while revenues for EVA surged 4.67 percent month-on-month to NT$8.9 billion, according to the two air carriers’ financial data.

On a yearly basis, CAL’s passenger revenues fell 35.47 percent last month, while EVA’s were down 11.33 percent, data showed.

Both carriers’ stocks fell yesterday, with CAL down 1.29 percent to close at NT$19.1 and EVA dipping 0.52 percent to NT$28.7, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed

(Taipei News 2011)

[hkskyline]

Thu, Jul 21, 2011
http://taipeitimes.com/News/biz/arch.../21/2003508725
China Airlines adds two more Chinese cities to schedule
Taipei Times Staff Writer, with CNA

China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), the nation’s largest carrier, will add two more Chinese cities to its destination list in September at the earliest, the airline said yesterday.

CAL will serve Yancheng in Jiangsu Province and Sanya in Hainan Province with two scheduled flights to each city, the airline said.

Meanwhile, EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空), the second-largest carrier in the nation, said it is still working on a service expansion to Yancheng and it intends to have one direct flight to the city each week.

Yancheng is adjacent to Shanghai and can make up for the shortage of services to Shanghai, where demand exceeds supply, CAL said. However, the new flights will not be able to rely solely on Taiwanese businesspeople traveling across the Strait and the company will have to attract more Chinese tourists from these cities to Taiwan, the airline said.

The latest addition of new destinations is part of a cross-strait agreement signed on June 8 to increase the number of direct flights between Taiwan and China from 370 to 558 per week, with each side being given an extra 94 flights. The additional flights will not be able to start before the end of October, Civil Aeronautics Administration Director-General Ying Chen-pong (尹承蓬) said on July 13.

As of the end of last year, Yancheng had approved 748 investment cases from Taiwanese companies and had more than 700 Taiwanese businesses registered in the city. There are more than 100,000 Taiwanese people living in Yancheng, while more than 30,000 Yancheng residents visited Taiwan in tour groups last year.

[hkskyline]

Taiwan-Macau flight aborted
25/07/2011 08:07:00
Macau Daily Times





Fifteen airline passengers on a Taiwan-Macau flight were hurt yesterday when they used inflatable evacuation slides after take-off was aborted due to smoke belching from an engine.

The MD90 aircraft belonging to Taiwan’s EVA Airways flashed abnormal signals just before it was set to take off at the northern Taoyuan airport at 09:00 am (0100 GMT), the company said in a statement in Taipei.

“Considering the safety of passengers, the captain decided to evacuate all of them immediately,” the statement said, referring to smoke coming from one of the plane’s engines.

Fifteen people were slightly injured when all the passengers exited the plane using two inflatable evacuation slides, according to the company.

The cause of the accident is under investigation, it said.

[hkskyline]

Wed, Jul 27, 2011
TransAsia sees surging sales on charter flights
http://taipeitimes.com/News/biz/arch.../27/2003509203

TransAsia Airways (復興航空) expects revenues to continue growing in the third quarter with the launch of more routes for direct charter flights this month and next, the company said yesterday.

The international carrier will launch charter flights between Hualien and Zhengzhou, the capital of China’s Henan Province, on Monday, with one flight per week, the company said, adding that it had already started weekly charter flights between Hualien and Hefei, the capital of Anhui Province, on Wednesday last week.

“These flights will be more convenient for local passengers living in the eastern part of Taiwan and will also help the company attract more Chinese passengers interested in visiting Hualien or Taitung,” a company public relations specialist, who declined to be named, said by telephone.

Besides charter flights to China, TransAsia recently restarted charter flights to Japan. On Monday, the carrier commenced flights between Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Kushiro Airport in Hokkaido, following its earlier resumption of flights to Hakodate and Asahikawa, also in Hokkaido, in May, the company said.

The carrier expects the expansion of charter flights during the summer vacation to drive up revenues in the third quarter, the specialist said.

Charter flights accounted for about 10 percent of the company’s overall revenues.

TransAsia posted NT$4.07 billion (US$141.14 million) in revenues in the first half of this year, up 5.01 percent from a year earlier, company data showed.

Net profit totaled NT$130.41 million in the first quarter, or earnings of NT$0.27 per share, data showed. The company has not yet released second-quarter results.

[hkskyline]

Source : http://pic.feeyo.com/posts/539/5394348.html

[hkskyline]

Press Release
EVA to Fly into JFK-Passenger services relocated from Newark, effective 31 Oct., 2011

TAIPEI, TAIWAN (2 August, 2011) – EVA Air will be serving East Coast travelers with flights to and from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), effective on and after 31 Oct., 2011. The airline is relocating passenger services from Newark International Airport to JFK’s Terminal One. It’s also introducing courtesy shuttle service for passengers to and from JFK and East Hanover Township, Piscataway Township, Jersey City and Fort Lee in New Jersey. Travelers can book flights and buy tickets now through travel agents, by calling EVA toll free at 800-695-1188 or on the airline’s user-friendly website at www.evaair.com .

Ticketed passengers with Newark itineraries who have departure dates on and after 31 Oct., 2011can request a change to JFK through a travel agent or the airline, or ask for a refund, both without surcharge.

EVA began serving New York and the East Coast region in 1993 with flights into the Newark airport. The airline has since expanded and upgraded capacity on the route and now operates comfortable new Boeing 777-300ERs on flights between New York and Taipei, Taiwan. EVA’s East Coast flights to Asia make a one-hour and twenty-five-minute refueling stop in Anchorage to accommodate strong head winds. Inbound service from Taipei to New York is nonstop. Flight time is 18 hours and 15 minutes outbound from New York and 14 hours and 30 minutes for the return trip. While Newark is an excellent airport, ground transportation and onward connections to and from JFK will be more convenient and less costly for many EVA passengers.

EVA is flying the route four times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Flight BR 31 will depart JFK at 23:50 (11:50 pm) and arrive at the well-appointed Taoyuan International Airport just outside of Taipei at 7:20 (7:20 am) two days later. Return flight BR32 will depart Taoyuan at 19:30 (7:30 pm) and arrive at JFK at 22:00 (10 pm).

From North American gateways in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto and Vancouver, EVA provides more flights to Taiwan with more easy, one-stop connections onward to more destinations in China and throughout Asia than any other airline. More information about EVA, its flights and service is available at www.evaair.com .

[hkskyline]

Wed, Aug 10, 2011
TransAsia Airways’ bid for main bourse approved
By Kevin Chen / Staff Reporter
Taipei Times

Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp (台灣證交所) yesterday approved TransAsia Airways Corp’s (復興航空) application for a primary listing on the main bourse, the exchange said in a statement.

The Taipei-based international carrier currently trades its shares on the GRETAI Securities Market’s emerging stock bourse, with its shares closing unchanged at NT$19.5 yesterday.

TransAsia has proposed to issue 22.22 million shares for the listing on the main bourse and tentatively set the issue price at NT$18 a share, according to a prospectus the company sent to the exchange earlier.

The carrier is expected to raise about NT$400 million (US$13.77 million) in funds from the listing by the end of the fourth quarter to expand its fleet and generate more revenue amid growing passenger demand.

In June, TransAsia ordered six new Airbus A321neo aircraft at the Paris Air Show, with each plane worth US$106 million at catalogue prices during the show. Normally, customers would negotiate lower prices with aircraft makers.

TransAsia — which last month predicted revenues to continue growing in the third quarter on more charter flight services between Taiwan and China and between Taiwan and Japan — yesterday posted NT$863.86 million in revenue for last month, up 3.35 percent from a year earlier.

In the first seven months of the year, accumulated revenue totaled NT$4.93 billion, representing an increase of 4.72 percent from the same period of last year, company data showed.

With a capitalization of NT$4.8 billion, TransAsia posted NT$409.21 in pre-tax profit in the first half, or NT$0.72 earnings per share.

The company reported a net profit of NT$917.65 million last year, or NT$1.91 in earnings per share, and NT$12.86 million in 2009, or NT$0.03 a share, data showed.

Separately, China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), the nation’s largest carrier, on Monday reported NT$12.27 billion in revenue for last month, up 11.14 percent month-on-month, but down 7.34 percent year-on-year.

From January to last month, cumulative revenue totaled NT$76.29 billion, 4.58 percent lower than a year earlier, because of slow cargo business, CAL’s data showed.

EVA Airways (長榮航空), the nation’s second-largest carrier, on Monday also posted revenue up 9 percent month-on-month to NT$9.71 billion last month. However, the number was down 1.21 percent from a year earlier because of slow recovery in cargo traffic on both the US and European routes, according to the company.

In the first seven months, total revenue fell by 0.68 percent to NT$59.56 billion, EVA said.

[hkskyline]

Passengers on Fujian-Taiwan direct flights soar from Jan to July
2011-08-13 11:15
Xinhua

Passengers on Fujian-Taiwan direct flights soar from Jan to July
Buddhists pray during a ceremony to commemorate the birth of Buddha, at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei May 8, 2011.[Photo/Agencies]

BEIJING -- A total of 441,400 passengers flew between southeastern Fujian Province and Taiwan through direct flights in the first seven months of 2011, up 49.8 percent year-on-year, according to the Fujian Department of Transportation.

A total of 3,490 cross-Strait flights took place -- almost double from the same period last year, figures released on Friday by the department show.

Fuzhou, capital of Fujian, transferred 194,500 passengers, up 74.77 percent. The remaining passengers took off or landed in the coastal city of Xiamen.

Fujian Province, which sits opposite to the island across the Taiwan Strait, enjoys the most convenient and flexible cross-strait links, including four direct sea routes and eight air routes with 377 weekly flights.

For decades, travelers have had to transfer at overseas airports, particularly in Hong Kong, in order to reach Taiwan by air.

Regular direct flights across the Taiwan Strait have been available since July 2008, when Taiwan authorities lifted a partial ban on mainland tourists visiting Taiwan.

[hkskyline]

Thu, Aug 18, 2011
Vienna-bound seat sales hits record high, CAL says
Taipei Times Staff Writer, with CNA, BERLIN

China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), Taiwan’s largest international carrier, sold a record percentage of seats on its Taipei-to-Vienna route last month, fueled in part by a visa-waiver program for Taiwanese travelers to Europe that took effect early in the year, a CAL executive in Austria said on Tuesday.

CAL’s nonstop flights between Taipei and Vienna had a load factor of about 94 percent in all cabins and 98.98 percent in economy class last month, according to An Long-chi (安隆祺), the airline’s general manager in Austria.

RECORD HIGH

The 94 percent load factor was the highest ever on the route, which CAL flies three times a week, and 12 percent higher than in July last year.

An said a program giving Republic of China passport holders visa exemptions for travel to Schengen Area countries, which took effect on Jan. 11, has led to an increase in the number of Taiwanese tourists to Europe, and airline load factors have benefited.

In the second quarter of this year, the average load factor on the Vienna-to-Taipei route grew by 14.2 percent year-on-year to 88.83 percent for all cabins, and by 14 percent in economy class to 91.37 percent, An said.

REGIONAL HUB

Vienna, located in the heart of central Europe, is the region’s major hub to other destinations.

At the same time, many Austrian and Eastern European visitors have chosen the nonstop route to Taipei because of the convenience of transiting to destinations in Southeast Asia, An said.

[hkskyline]

Sat, Aug 27, 2011
CAL posts smaller-than-expected loss
Taipei Times

Despite rising oil prices, China Airlines Ltd, the nation’s largest air carrier, yesterday posted a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss for the second quarter as it has hedged against higher fuel costs.

The air carrier narrowed its quarterly loss to NT$282.41 million (US$9.72 million) during the April-to-June period, from a loss of NT$379.09 million for the first three months, the company’s -financial data showed. The results beat most analysts’ expectations of widening quarterly losses, given higher crude oil prices.

“The company’s hedge on crude oil prices helped improve losses in the second quarter,” a company official, who declined to be named, told the Taipei Times earlier this month.

EVA Airways Corp, the nation’s second-biggest airline, posted a net profit of NT$63.88 million for the second quarter, down 76 percent from NT$269.32 million in the first three months.

In the first half of the year, the two air carriers both posted falling net profits from a year earlier amid lower passenger and cargo demand.

The two airliners expect an improvement in profitability this quarter on strong seasonal passenger demand.

“The company’s third-quarter profit may cover losses from the first half of the year,” the CAL official said.

[hkskyline]

Regular direct flights launched between Chinese mainland's Yancheng, Taipei

NANJING, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- A new regular direct air service was launched between Yancheng on the Chinese mainland and Taipei on Wednesday.

The mainland's China Eastern Airlines and Taiwan's China Airlines and EVA Air will jointly operate the route, said Xie Guigen, deputy director of the Yancheng Civil Aviation Station.

The three companies are jointly running a round-trip flight on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, Xie said.

As the birthplace for more than 100,000 people in Taiwan, Yancheng has a close link with the island.

Meanwhile, an increasing number of Taiwan business people are coming to Yancheng for investment.

Local government statistics show that Yancheng has 641 Taiwan-funded businesses with a total investment of 2.66 billion U.S. dollars.

[hkskyline]

Source : http://pic.feeyo.com/posts/546/5460885.html

[hkskyline]

Source : http://pic.feeyo.com/posts/546/5466496.html

[hkskyline]

Wed, Oct 12, 2011
CAA to propose more cross-strait flights for holidays
KAOHSIUNG TALKS:The CAA said the number of extra Lunar New Year flights would be less than before because of the number of regular flights
By Shelley Shan / Staff Reporter
Taipei Times Excerpt

The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) yesterday said it would propose the addition of 86 cross-strait flights for the Lunar New Year period next year during its negotiations with Chinese aviation officials in Greater Kaohsiung today.

The Central Personnel Administration had announced earlier that the holiday would last from Jan. 20 through Jan. 29.

As some people may choose to leave for Taiwan earlier or return to China later, the agency plans to allow more flights from Jan. 9 through Feb. 5.

Many China-based Taiwanese businesspeople may also choose to return home ahead of the holidays to vote in the presidential and legislative elections, which will be held on Jan. 14.

The agency said the number of additional flights was proposed by the nation’s major airlines, including 37 flights departing from Shanghai Pudong Airport, 19 from Shenzhen, 13 from Guangzhou as well as from Beijing, Hangzhou, Ningbo and six other Chinese cities.

However, the agency said the number of additional flights requested would be lower than in previous years because there already are 558 regular cross-strait flights per week.

******************

Liu and the rest of the Chinese delegation arrived in Greater Kaohsiung late yesterday.

Today’s meeting will mark the sixth round of cross-strait negotiations on air travel in the past two years.

Negotiations have been held twice in Xiamen, China and once each in Chengdu, China, and in Taipei and Greater Taichung.

The agency said the Chinese delegation would also visit Kenting and Greater Tainan. It said it hoped the visit to the scenic spots would encourage Chinese airlines to increase the number of flights to those areas.

[Blackraven]

In terms of safety (between the two Taiwanese airliners):
EVA AIR is king. No one has been killed or has been seriously injured in an EVA AIR flight ever (since the company was founded in 1989)

As for China Airlines, well.................they have to fix their "ABSYMAL" safety record. Many people have lost their lives on CAL flights. It's a disgrace IMHO....

[hkskyline]

Originally Posted by Blackraven

In terms of safety (between the two Taiwanese airliners):
EVA AIR is king. No one has been killed or has been seriously injured in an EVA AIR flight ever (since the company was founded in 1989)

As for China Airlines, well.................they have to fix their "ABSYMAL" safety record. Many people have lost their lives on CAL flights. It's a disgrace IMHO....

Yes - I would not step into one of China Airlines' planes even if they pay me. The stigma is still too great even after an incident-free recent record.

[hkskyline]

Source : http://pic.feeyo.com/posts/547/5479120.html

[hkskyline]

Wed, Nov 02, 2011
TransAsia shares climb on debut
Taipei Times

THINKING BIG:The company’s chairman said the carrier is expecting the delivery of 14 new aircraft before 2020 and is considering building its own maintenance facility

TransAsia Airways Corp chairman Vincent Lin talks to reporters in Taipei yesterday, the company’s first trading day on the -Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Photo: CNA

TransAsia Airways Corp’s (復興航空) shares climbed on their first day of trading on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE, 台灣證交所) yesterday, outpacing other airlines’ stocks amid high investor interest.

The carrier’s shares rose 27.78 percent, or NT$5, to close at NT$23 on the local bourse, higher than share prices of the other two listed airlines, China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) and EVA Airways Corp (EVA, 長榮航空), which closed at NT$15.45 and NT$22.05 respectively, TWSE data showed.

“We expect TransAsia to be a brand that is trusted by the public after it passed the high standards of the TWSE listing examination,” company chairman Vincent Lin (林明昇) said after the carrier’s listing ceremony.

After raising NT$898 million (US$29.85 million) in funds, TransAsia registered a total of NT$5.54 billion in capital on the local bourse. The company will soon launch its second-phase capital raising plan, Lin said.

Despite the recent global economic slowdown, Lin eyed growing momentum on routes within Asia, saying that they would benefit TransAsia for the next five to 10 years.

“We expect the company’s revenues to continue rising next year as we focus on cross-strait and other Asian routes, especially since the company is still young and therefore has a relatively wider space in which to grow,” Lin said.

The company would keep expanding into new Asian routes, including more cross-strait routes and flights to Malaysia, Indonesia and South Korea, by fully coordinating with the government’s policy on open skies and air rights, Lin added.

In addition, TransAsia might rent a hangar at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport next year to help manage its fleet expansion.

The carrier, currently based at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), has ordered two Airbus A330 and 12 Airbus A321-series aircraft, with the first plane set to be delivered in November next year and the last delivered by 2020.

Since the carrier still has the option to order six additional A321-series airplanes, renting a bigger hangar would be necessary, the company said.

Lin said the company might start building its own maintenance facility once the fleet reaches a size that would make such a plan economically viable.

“Owning a total of eight or nine aircraft of a single model would be a prerequisite for the plan,” Lin said.

[Vicvin86]