Taiwanese airline China Airlines and Tiger Airways of Singapore have announced a new low-cost carrier to operate out of Taiwan. The new airline, dubbed Tigerair Taiwan, will provide inexpensive flights to passengers in what is one of the heaviest air traffic zones in the world.
The new carrier will be based out of Taoyuan International Airport, just outside of Taipei, in the same location as its sister company, China Airlines. Taipei is a central location in the Asia-Pacific region, and the Taoyuan airport was recently renovated, making it capable of handling a much higher volume of passengers and flights.
According to Business Insider, the Asia-Pacific region hosts seven of ten of the busiest passenger flight routes in the world, including Hong Kong/Taipei at number 7, and with routes between Korea, Japan and China conducting extremely heavy air traffic. The demand for low-cost, easy access flights will only grow as tourism and business take off in the area.
Other airlines in Taiwan are also acting on the greater demand for affordable flights. TransAsia Airways, who mostly fly within Taiwan and between it and the Mainland, is also planning to launch a no-frills airline in the near future.
With greater business ties between China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and other East Asian nations, low-cost flights are in ever higher demand. Tourism from China is expected to increase (although it has fallen in the past few months due to new tourism laws), and business ties between East Asian cities will require greater access to each other as trade increases.
Tiger Air, the Singaporean shareholder in the new carrier, will hold a 10 percent stake with China Air holding majority ownership at 90%. Tiger Air has stated that Tigerair Taiwan will operate as a stand-alone carrier, but will use Tiger Air’s distribution and sales utilities.