Taiwan’s China Airlines to Add 7 Jets to Fleet This Year

To keep pace with Taiwan’s steadily growing air transport market, China Airlines Ltd., the largest airline by fleet size on the island, will add seven new aircrafts to its fleet this year to fuel growth momentum in the short term, according to the president, Samuel Lin.

Lin pointed out that China Airlines is motivated to carry out the fleet expansion primarily by the robust local air transport market, which has steadily grown by about 10% annually for the past three years. The seven airplanes to be added will include three B777-300ER jets, three B737-800 twinjet planes and an Airbus A330-300, all for short and mid-range flights to major cities across Asia initially.

Meanwhile, the airline just started flying between  the Taoyuan International Airport and Weihai, a city in China’s eastern province of Shandong, with a Boeing 737-800 carrying over 150 passengers weekly. Lin stressed that the company now offers 115 flights a week to 27 cities across the Taiwan Strait, with the new route expected to attract more Taiwanese travelers to Shandong.

The Taoyuan-Shandong route is potentially lucrative, as Lin confirmed that the first flight launched in early January was fully booked, and the overall booking rate of the once-a-week flight throughout the month exceeded 90%. The flight will likely become twice weekly starting in September, when most of China Airlines’ new aircrafts will be operational as planned.

As to prospects in the fourth quarter of 2013, Lin indicated earlier that the company enjoyed solid performance in the freight business, mostly driven by about 900 tonnes of new Xbox consoles it transported prior to the Thanksgiving, coupled with  passenger business having continuously risen for the third straight year, largely thanks to new routes and services.

For the first nine months of 2013, the company achieved consolidated revenue of NT$104.607 billion, with net profits of NT$206 million, or NT$0.04 per share, staying in  comparatively fine shape amid market sluggishness. (SC)

China Airlines’ Performance by Year
Year	2009	2010	2011	2012	Jan.-Sept., 2013
Consolidated Revenue	NT$105.030 Bn.	NT$147.666 Bn.	NT$142.311 Bn.	NT$143.435 Bn.	NT$104.604 Bn.
Net Profit	- NT$3.754 Bn.	NT$10.622 Bn.	- NT$1.954 Bn.	NT$59 M.	NT$206 M.
Earnings per Share	- NT$1.04	NT$2.31	- NT$0.42	NT$0.01	NT$0.04

Source: Market Observation Post System