Tigerair Taiwan CEO Update

Transcript

Kwan Yue:We started September last year. Of course, you know, when we, when we started, we are actually the first LCC in Taiwan. And obviously, you know, we have stated on the start-up that we're going to grow to 12 aircraft in 3 years. And what we have done in the last 14 months is that we have actually been growing faster than what we have actually anticipated. What is Tigerair Taiwan's strategy going forward? Market is great, timing is great. You know, I think we are in a very good position. The Northeast low-cost carrier sector is only at about 12-13% right now. That actually provides a lot of opportunity for us. So right now, after 14 months, we are going to get our 7 aircraft. I'll be getting my next aircraft in January. That will make it 8 aircraft in 16 months, which means I'm actually growing like about an aircraft every 2 months, and that's fantastic for us. Our main focus is in Northeast Asia. That's where, as I've said earlier, the opportunities are there. It's only kind of like sitting at 12-13% LCC penetration at the moment. So Japan is certainly the key market, more so because it is a market that the Taiwanese love. I'm already now flying into Narita, Osaka, as well as Okinawa. Next month, I'll be flying to Haneda as well. And over and above that, that I'm flying into Narita and Osaka not only from Taipei, the capital city, I'm also flying from the southern city, which is Kaohsiung. So that is where we are pushing the market up. We are still pretty much happy with the 2 Southeast Asian routes that we are currently operating. Obviously, the first route that we started was Singapore because of our connection with Singapore Tiger. That one is still moving very well, as well as in Don Mueang. Good market for us. Again, it's a destination that the Taiwanese love. I think when it comes to the cross-strait, the limitation right now is the availability of the traffic rights. When cross-strait started between China and Taiwan, of course, all the airlines in Taiwan have been allocated all the traffic rights. There were no new traffic rights since that started 7 years ago. We anticipate that there'll be more rights coming in. Although we are starting our first cross-strait flight to a place called Changcha Cheh, a tourist spot, in December. So that will be our first launch into China. Taipei doesn't have a specific low-cost terminal at this point in time. The reason really is because the infrastructure in Taipei is a little limited in the international airport in Taoyuan. Taoyuan is going to develop the airport with a new terminal. terminal downstream, and we certainly hope that, you know, with the new development, there will be some allocation of LCC terminals. Thank you.

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