Taipei, Nov. 5, 2012 (CENS)--To enlarge its network in Asia, Eva Airways, one of Taiwan's leading airlines, will lease 18 A321-200 Airbuses, the first of which to be delivered by the end of November.
The leased Airbuses will enable Eva Air to focus on Asian routes such as between Taiwan, China and Japan, as well as becoming the most competitive airline for mid- and short routes in Asia.
According to G.W. Chang, general manager of Eva Air, the Airbus A321 is a narrow-body aircraft, known as a single-aisle aircraft, with 184 seats and mainly flies mid- and short-distance routes of under four hours.
Chang says Asian routes have the most potential, which many airlines in Taiwan including Eva Air, China Airlines, and TransAsia Airways all plan to tap by flying between Taiwan and Japan in the wake of the inking of open skies agreement at the end of 2011.
Eva Air recently began to fly the Taoyuan-Hakodate route, and will fly between Taoyuan and Niigata to offer the second regular flight between Taiwan and Japan.
Eva Air is leasing the Airbuses from Aviation Capital Group (ACG), a global commercial jet aircraft leasing and asset management company, for 10 years. Three will be delivered this year, six in 2014, and the remainder from 2015 to 2016.
Eva Air has 58 airplanes and flies 58 Taiwan-Japan routes weekly. Base on the third-quarter financial report from Eva Air, the firm's after-tax earning per share hit NT$0.48 (US$0.016) lead the industry in Taiwan, followed by China Airlines' NT$0.27 (us$0.009) and TransAsia's NT$0.2 (US$0.0066).
(by Renee Chen)