Taiwan's TransAsia Airways to Post Profits in 2012

Taipei, Nov.30, 2012 (CENS)--TransAsia Airways, a mid-sized Taiwanese Airline, will start to fly its newly-acquired A330-300 planes to Hokkaido, Japan at the end of 2012. Institutional investors say lower fuel cost will enable the firm to see profits up slightly in the fourth quarter to post a profitable 2012.

M.S. Lin, chairman of TransAsia, pointed out that the A330-300s are cost effective and help the firm to fly flexibly to cities within 9-hour range including Sydney, New Zealand, Guam, Eastern Europe or the Middle East, to which the airline aims to expand.

Lin noted that the carrier will fly the A330-300 to Hokkaido by the end of 2012, prioritizing Hokkaido and Singapore initially and to seek new destinations after another A330-300 is delivered in February 2013. Institutional investors indicated that with up to 300 seats, the new flight is expected to boost TransAsia's revenues immediately after takeoff.

The airline saw revenues up 8.6% YoY to NT$7.899 billion (US$263.3 million) in the first 10 months, with NT$153 million (US$5.1 million) in net profits and NT$0.28 (US$0.009) in EPS (earnings per share) in the first three quarters.

Due to remarkable growth of fuel price in the first half, TransAsia's net profits in the first three quarters declined from NT$600 million (US$20 million) in 2011 to NT$153 million (US$5.1 million).

Among TransAsia's three major markets including cross-strait, international, and domestic routes, cross-strait routes generate the most revenue at over 30%, similar to international ones, whose revenues are expected to lead due to continuous expansion.