Saturday 6 August 2016

Tigerair Taiwan and V Air may be merged or closed down

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
                  / KUCINTA SETIA
Distributed to All Press & Travel Professionals



According to Central News Agency of Taiwan, Tigerair Taiwan may be merged with Mandarin Airlines or closed down as the airline's main investor China Airlines is said to have a problem on the joint-venture agreement with Tiger Airways Holdings and Mandarin Airlines, the minority investors of Tigerair Taiwan. 

As of today, Tiger Airways Holdings hold 10 per cent stake in Tigerair Taiwan while China Airlines holds 80 per cent stake in the Taiwan LCC while the remaining stake was taken up by Mandarin Airlines in March 2014 from China Airlines.

Tigerair Taiwan first commenced inaugural flight to Singapore from Taipei-Taoyuan on 26 September 2014. Today, it flies to Singapore, Kota Kinabalu, Don Mueang, Macau, Kaohsiung, Dayong (Zhangjiajie in Hunan), Daegu in South Korea, Sendai, Tokyo, Okayama, Naha, Fukuoka and Nagoya in Japan. It launches its first flight to Hakodate on 12 August 2016.

Due to competition from Tigerair Taiwan on routes to Japan, Thailand, China and Singapore, China Airlines is considering merging the Taiwan LCC with its regional subsidiary Mandarin Airlines or closing down the joint-venture to stem losses. 

Mandarin Airlines has given response deadline to Tigerair Taiwan after 8 August 2016 on how it will re-organize its business or merge with Mandarin Airlines to avoid further losses on the routes it flies to including flights to Singapore and Japan.

Meanwhile, customers who have bought tickets from Tigerair Taiwan on Tigerair web-site should monitor status of their planned flights in September for sudden flight cancellations and should have purchased travel insurance before flying with the Taiwanese airline. Tigerair Taiwan has already cancelled its planned inaugural flight from Taipei-Taoyuan to Sapporo on 13 September 2016.


Also at risk of business closure is V Air, the low-cost airline subsidiary of TransAsia Airways. TransAsia is said to consider merging V Air with TransAsia Airways as V Air has not been attracting Japanese tourists and not earning any profit. TransAsia Airways is considering to become a budget boutique airline to stem losses from competition with V Air and other airlines operating to Taiwan and Japan, meaning future passengers of TransAsia will have to pay for inflight meals and inflight entertainment.

Both Tigerair Taiwan and V Air are taking late steps in attracting the Japanese travel markets. They have agreed to exhibit at JATA Travel Expo, Japan's largest international travel mart, but it remains to be seen whether they will exhibit on-site from 21 September to 24 September 2016 in Tokyo.

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