Aviation:DomesticDeathRattle?

[GWR]

This article relates heavily to the previous post:

UNI Airways to end Taipei-Kaohsiung flights
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
CNA

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) has given the green light to a plan by UNI Airways to end its flight services on the Taipei-Kaohsiung route from March 1 due to decreasing passenger numbers, a CAA official said yesterday.

According to the official, domestic air carriers plying the route have recorded declining passenger numbers since the high-speed railway came into full operation last March and UNI Airways failed to upgrade its seat occupancy rate despite cutting air ticket prices by 50 percent last September.

The airline carried 9,890 passengers last December, accounting for just 14.7 percent of the total number for the same period of 2006, the official said, adding that UNI Airways reported losses totaling NT$140 million (US$4.32 million) on the route last year.

The official further said the high-speed railway, which beats air travel in terms of both travel time and fare costs, is expected to have a continued impact on air passenger numbers on the route.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/2008/01/29/141013/UNI%2DAirways.htm

[GWR]

Sunday, June 22, 2008
Taipei airport being renovated
The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taipei Songshan Airport in downtown Taipei is undergoing renovation for being transformed from a domestic hub into an international gateway to serve cross-Taiwan Strait flight routes.

Director Shiau Deng-ke of the Songshan Airport Director Shiau Deng-ke said yesterday that the first terminal building will be used for international flight operations while all domestic flight services will be transferred to the airport's second terminal following the launch of direct cross-strait charter flights on July 4.

The charter flights have been deemed as a potential catalyst to Taiwan's economy, especially among local airports serving domestic routes that have encountered hard times over the past 10 years.

Only Taiwan's two main international gateways -- Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Kaohsiung International Airport -- were profitable among the country's 18 airports in 2006, with domestic-oriented airports hurt by declining passenger traffic.

At its peak in 1997, Taipei Songshan Airport handled 15.4 million passengers and served 10 million passengers as recently as 2001.

But traffic plummeted to 6.73 million passengers in 2006 and has declined further in the past year and a half with the opening in 2007 of a high-speed rail system along Taiwan's populated western corridor.

Due to falling traffic numbers, the airport has had little incentive to refurbish its aging terminals, and Lien Sheng-wen, a member of the ruling Kuomintang's policy-making Central Standing Committee, recently criticized the airport as being even worse than North Korea's Pyongyang Airport.

But Shiau said improvements are being made in the first stage of the airport's renovation, which includes upgrades to the airport's electrical systems, bathrooms, and broadcasting and security systems.

Shiau noted that the airport's management has prepared mid- and long term projects to improve the facility, which was built for military use during the Japanese occupation era.

The airport was inaugurated for solely civil aviation services in 1950 and served as Taiwan's main international gateway until 1979, when the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport opened.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Taipei airport being renovated

The China Post news staff

In related news, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan said yesterday that Taiwan should not only improve its airports but also upgrade the quality of its tourism services to cater to an anticipated influx of Chinese tourists and the opening of weekend direct charter flights across the Taiwan Strait.

Liu made the remarks during an inspection tour of the Songshan Airport.

Noting that renovation work undertaken at Songshan Airport was proceeding satisfactorily, Liu hoped that Taiwan would also pay attention to both the services the country can offer and the training of those involved in the travel industry.

"We need to improve our services, not only for mainland tourists but also for the future development of Taiwan's tourism, "Liu said, urging government agencies and tourism operators to work together to make visitors to the ROC "feel different."

Liu also urged the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture and the Department of Health to implement a complete quarantine mechanism at local airports that will serve Chinese tourists to ensure the health of travelers and local residents.

Meanwhile, in response to criticism that the facilities of Taipei Songshan Airport are even worse than those at North Korea's Pyongyang Airport, Civil Aeronautics Administration Director General Billy Chang said under everyone's efforts, "Songshan Airport will become the best airport." Chang accompanied Liu in the inspection tour.

The launch of weekend charter flights on July 4 and arrival of greater numbers of Chinese tourists on July 18 were made possible by agreements signed by Taiwan's quasi-official Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), in Beijing on June 13.

The services will initially cover five Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xiamen and Nanjing, and eight airports in Taiwan, including Taipei, Taoyuan, Kaohsiung, Taichung, Penghu, Hualien, Kinmen and Taitung.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national%20news/2008/06/22/162082/Taipei%2Dairport.htm

[GWR]

No more Taipei-Tainan flights after July
The China Post news staff
Wednesday, July 23, 2008

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- There will be no flight service between Taipei and Tainan in southern Taiwan starting in August, leaving only the Taipei-Kaohsiung air service, officials at the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA).

The CAA approved a request from TransAsia Airways, presently the only air carrier operating the Taipei-Tainan route, to suspend flights because of the dwindling number of passengers and soaring fuel costs.

The officials said they gave the approval mainly because there are alternate choices for passengers, including the high-speed rail, the conventional railway, and bus service on the west coast of the island.

TransAsia will give refunds to customers who already booked flights for after July 31.

With the withdrawal of TransAsia from the route, Mandarin Airlines will become the only domestic air carrier flying the route linking Taipei in the north and southern Taiwan.

Mandarin, affiliate of China Airlines, currently provides two or three flights per day on the Taipei-Kaohsiung route with an occupancy rate of 60 to 70 percent.

But the air carrier will reduce to two flights a day beginning on Aug. 1.

Company executives said they will have to stop flying the route if the occupancy rate drops to below 60 percent.

While the domestic air carriers continue slashing their flights, the high-speed rail service between Taipei and Kaohsiung is enjoying spectacular growth.

Customers took 15.56 million rides aboard the bullet trains as of mid-July this year, surpassing the total number of rides for the whole year of 2007.

It takes 50 minutes and costs NT$1,450 for flights between Taipei and Kaohsiung.

It takes two hours and about the same price for the high-speed rail service.

People who are not in a hurry may take the conventional railway service offered by the state-owned Taiwan Railway Administration. It costs NT$845 and takes 4 hours and 30 minutes to travel between the two largest cities on the island.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/%20business/2008/07/23/166703/No%2Dmore.htm

[jpatokal]

Nit: Taipei-Kaohsiung is 90 minutes by THSR, not "two hours".

[GWR]

Mandarin to cut flights to reduce loss
The China Post news staff
Friday, August 15, 2008

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Passengers may soon be denied the chance to take domestic flights along western Taiwan, as Mandarin Airlines has decided to cut the number of Taipei-Kaohsiung flights to seven, or one flight per day, from the existing 12, starting tomorrow. The firm has also applied for suspending all such flights starting Sept. 1.

Mandarin Airlines, now the only operator of the historically "golden flight route," was forced to reduce the number of flights due to its failure to survive the competition from the increasing popularity of the high-speed railway system with passengers.

But Lee Lung-wen, director general of the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), has yet to approve Mandarin's application to suspend the Taipei-Kaohsiung flights, on grounds that there is still market demand for the said route.

Lee said that he hoped for Mandarin to maintain seven Taipei-Kaohsiung flight per week after Aug. 16 for a certain period of time, instead of totally suspending the Taipei-Kaohsiung flight route.

The CAA will move to negotiate with Mandarin soon to seek effective ways to secure viable flight operations.

Nevertheless, Hsu Cheng-chuan, a public relations director of Mandarin Airlines, said the Taipei-Kaohsiung flights recorded an average passenger boarding rate of only a little more than 50 percent for the moment, despite traditional market boom in the summer.

Hsu said the company can hardly survive if the passenger boarding rate falls under 60 percent. This, coupled with the increasing number of daily high-speed rail trains and the growing substitutability of the HSR system for flights, has made it increasingly difficult for Mandarin to sustain the Taipei-Kaohsiung flights.

The operating predicament can be well reflected by the sharp decline in the numbers of flights and passengers over the past 10 years.

CAA statistics showed that the annual number of domestic flight passengers amounted to a high of 18 million in 1997, but plunged 60 percent to 8 million in 2006, dropped further to 6 million in 2007 and is likely to dip to 4 million this year.

Meanwhile, there were as many as 520 flights taking off from and landing at the Taipei Songshan Airport in 1997, with one flight taking off from the airport for Kaohsiung every 15 minutes. The lobby of the airport used to be crowded with passengers on waiting lists.

But the improvement of land transportation systems in western Taiwan, the electrification of the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) and particularly the launch of the HSR system in January 2007 have all combined to undermine domestic flight business.

Soon after the inauguration of the HSR system, domestic airlines were forced to terminate first thei

r Taipei-Taichung flights and then the Taipei-Chiayi flights. In August this year, the Taipei-Tainan flights were also suspended.

What's worse is that Mandarin Airlines has applied to the CAA for terminating the Taipei-Kaohsiung flights to cut operating losses, starting from Sept. 1.

In a sharp contrast, the Taipei High-Speed Railway Corp. has been enjoying a rapid increase in the number of passengers since it kicked off the HSR system.

Statistics showed that from Jan. 1 to Aug. 9 this year, the average daily number of passengers taking the HSR trains stood at 90,000, sharply increasing from the corresponding figure of 30,000 seen in the initial operating months of the HSR system.

The same tallies indicated that as of Aug. 9 this year, the THSRC scored total revenue of NT$14 billion, exceeding the total annual revenue registered in 2007.

THSRC's vice president and spokesman Chia Hsien-der said that the spiraling oil prices, punctual arrival and departure of trains and availability of many options in schedules have prompted quite a few people to choose the HSR system instead of taking flights or driving on their own. This has enabled the THSRC's revenues and number of passengers to surge rapidly.

THSRC is launching a discount program to solicit more patronage. Under the program, the firm offers a 36 percent discount on ticket fares for commercial-class train seats, and 28 percent for non-reserved train seats, from every Monday to Thursday.

The firm is planning to come up with an off-peak-hour discount fare program by the end of the year, to further raise the number of passengers.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national%20news/2008/08/15/170221/Mandarin-to.htm

Hi-Speed Railwatch thread:
http://www.angkor.com/2bangkok/2bangkok/forum/showthread.php?t=2127