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China Airlines and EVA Air Report Encouraging Sales for August

2014/09/22 | By Steve Chuang

Due partly to summer travel boom and partly to increased flights, China Airlines Ltd. and EVA Airways Corp. (EVA Air), Taiwan's two major airlines, both posted rosy sales in August.

China Airlines, with the island's largest fleet, finished August with revenue of NT$13.704 billion (US$456.8 million), up 5.18% year-on-year (YoY) and only 1.85% less than its four-year high of NT$13.963 billion (US$465.43 million) achieved in July. For the first eight months of this year, the airline's cumulative revenue totaled NT$99.931 billion, growing 7.31% YoY.

The firm's August sales was mainly sustained by fully booked flights bound for Japan and Korea during the summer vacation, and new flights to China's Changchun, Hefei, Yentai and Xuzhou since July. The airline is expected to  maintain growth momentum in revenue for the remainder of this year and 2015, especially with commissioning of brand new Boeing 777-300ER wide-body twin-engine jets in October to expand fleet size and provide more flights.

EVA Air recorded a single-month high, for the second consecutive month, of NT$12.781 billion (US$426.03 million) in revenue for August, up 9.34% YoY and 3.99% month-on-month (MoM).

The airline's rosy performance was attributable partly to its three Boeing 777-300ER received in the first half, all of which fly exclusively to North America to significantly drive up passenger capacity by 22%. Also notable is the airline's passenger load factors for flights to New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco all have remained 80%-plus ever since commissioning of the new planes.

Another factor fueling EVA Air's revenue is new flights by its domestic subsidiary, UNI Air, to China's Shijiazhuang, Wenzhou and Taiyuan since July.

TransAsia Airways Corp., Taiwan's other international airline, in contrast suffered from the deadly crash of its airplane in July to see August revenue sharply drop 15.7% MoM to only NT$1.185 billion (US$39.5 million). (SC)

Performance of Taiwan's Top-3 Airlines in August, 2014
Company

Revenue

MoM Growth Rate

YoY Growth Rate

China Airlines Ltd.

NT$13.704 Bn.

- 1.85%

5.18%

EVA Airways Corp.

NT$12.781 Bn.

3.99%

9.34%

TransAsia Airways Corp.

NT$1.185 Bn.

- 15.70%

1.62%

Source: Market Observation Post System