China Airlines reports 2nd-highest September sales

Taipei, Oct. 14 (CNA) China Airlines (CAL) said it expects peak season effects in the fourth quarter to continue to boost demand for passenger flights and cargo services, after reporting its second-highest-ever September sales total on Monday.

In a statement, CAL said it posted NT$15.88 billion (US$517 million) in consolidated sales last month, with this year's total trailing only September 2024's NT$16.01 billion.

In September, the carrier generated NT$8.77 billion from its passenger flights and additional NT$5.37 billion from cargo services, CAL said.

In the first nine months of this year, CAL posted NT$154.93 billion in consolidated sales, up 2.62 percent from a year earlier, marking the second-highest level for the January-September period.

CAL said cargo service prices continued to rise in September and are expected to keep rising in the fourth quarter as the year-end shopping season approaches.

In addition, global demand for AI servers, chips and semiconductor equipment is expected to stay strong in the current quarter to further push up sales from its cargo services, CAL said, adding it will seek to transport high-end devices to strengthen its bottom line.

In terms of passenger flights, CAL said it will raise the number of weekly flights between Taipei and Tokyo's Narita Airport to four starting from Oct. 26 to boost ticket sales, while the autumn foliage season in Japan and South Korea is expected to bring the load factor -- an industry metric that measures percentage of passenger capacity used -- of flights to Tokyo and Seoul to around 90 percent in October.

CAL added the factor of flights to destinations in Australia are expected to top 90 percent in October as demand remains high and stable.

Last week, EVA Airways, another leading Taiwanese international carrier, said it posted NT$15.62 billion in consolidated sales in September, down 10 percent from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, Starlux Airlines, the newest international carrier in Taiwan, and Tigerair Taiwan, the country's only low-cost carrier, posted NT$2.95 billion and NT$1.28 billion in consolidated sales for September, respectively, up 5 percent and 1 percent from a year earlier.