V Air, the low-cost subsidiary of Transasia Airways, has announced that it will axe its flights from Taipei Taoyuan to Tokyo Haneda and Ibaraki (a region northeast of Tokyo).
The final two services will be flights ZV253 from Tokyo to Taipei on September 17 and ZV241 from Ibaraki to Taipei on September 18.
According to Focus Taiwan, the cancellation of the two routes comes amid rumours that V Air is likely to shut down its business after sustaining heavy losses in the past year due to ever-increasing competition from other international low-cost carriers.
Responding to the rumours, the airline has reiterated that the cut is part of its ongoing market strategy, and that it is still recording an average load factor of 75 per cent throughout its network – although this figure compares poorly with other regional LCCs such as HK Express (86 per cent), Scoot (83 per cent) and Jetstar (80 per cent).
It should be noted that Tigerair Taiwan, another Taiwanese budget carrier, is also incurring significant losses, prompting the airline to consider merging flights that have low occupancy rates.
For more information, visit flyvair.com
Clement Huang
