Tigerair Taiwan Expected to Lift Off in October

The low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan, a joint venture between Taiwan's China Airlines  (CAL) and Tiger Airways Pte of Singapore, is expected to start up as early as October, also aiming to be profitable within one or two years and soon become a major provider of budget flights in Asia.

CAL and Tiger Airways launched the venture in December 2013 with paid-in capital of NT$2 billion (US$66.15 million), with the former holding an 80% stake and the latter a 10% stake, and the remaining 10% held by Mandarin Airlines, a fully-owned subsidiary of CAL.

CAL senior vice president James Yu has been  appointed as the chairman of the new budget carrier, with Yue Kwan, a Singaporean and formerly the chief operating officer of Airtropolis GSA Services Pte Ltd., being chief executive officer.

Kwan says that Taiwan is geographically ideal as a hub for budget flights by being within five hours of flight to Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia and almost half of China, so Tigerair Taiwan will initially focus on the said countries and  offer five to six routes from Taiwan to Macao, Thailand, Japan and South Korea.

To differentiate from CAL, Tigerair Taiwan has recruited its own crew, with nearly 100 pilots and ground crew in addition to 88 flight attendants.

In the first year the budget carrier will have a fleet of one to three Airbus SAS 320 planes, then raise the number to 12 by 2017. (JL)