TransAsia chairman reiterates calls for government to create favourable policy environment for LCCs

TransAsia Airways chairman Vincent Lin reiterated (22-Aug-2012) calls for the Taiwanese government to actively create a favourable policy environment for the development of LCCs and to consider combining Taiwan's three listed airlines in China Airlines, EVA Air and TransAsia to establish a new LCC in response to international competition. Mr Lin stated Taiwan's civil aviation is already facing competition on regional routes with LCCs in Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia increasingly establishing Taiwan as a gateway to Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, and may even operate cross-Strait flights in the future. Mr Lin also stated Taiwanese airlines face many obstacles in the domestic market including lack of a clear civil aviation development policy from the government, limitations of current civil aviation regulations including fairness in the distribution of air traffic rights, as well as the competition posed by domestic train and high-speed rail networks. On the international market, Mr Lin noted the impact of oil prices the global economy, competition from Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong in the international transit market as well as the threat from mainland China in transits to Europe and the Americas. [more - Original PR - Chinese]