Taiwan's four major carriers report highest-ever October sales

Taipei, Nov. 12 (CNA) Taiwan's four international carriers -- China Airlines (CAL), EVA Airways (EVA Air), Starlux Airlines and budget airline Tigerair Taiwan -- all reported on Monday record sales for the month of October due to booming passenger and cargo services.

CAL posted consolidated sales of NT$17.13 billion (US$530 million) in October, up 6.56 percent from a year earlier and up 7.01 percent from a month earlier.

Passenger revenue during the month totaled NT$10.08 billion, up 6.76 percent from a month earlier, CAL said, noting that its flights to Europe recorded a relatively high load factor of almost 85 percent on average.

In particular, the load factor on its exclusive route to Prague reached nearly 90 percent. Load factor is an industry metric to measure how much of an airline's passenger carrying capacity is used.

On the cargo side, CAL's cargo revenue soared 20.28 percent from a year earlier and 9 percent from a month earlier to NT$5.74 billion in October.

EVA Air posted consolidated sales of NT$18.24 billion in October, up 4.06 percent from a year earlier. Passenger revenue totaled NT$11.25 billion and cargo service revenue reached NT$4.99 billion for the month.

EVA Air said demand for long haul flights to Europe and Canada remained robust with an average load factor of almost 90 percent, and demand was also higher for flights to destinations in East Asia.

The carrier said cargo services continued to benefit from booming export shipments, in particular tech products such as artificial intelligence servers.

Starlux Airlines, the newest international carrier in Taiwan, reported consolidated sales of NT$3.10 billion in October, up 48.45 percent from a year earlier, while Tigerair posted consolidated sales of NT$1.30 billion for the month, up 6.7 percent from a year earlier.