Taiwan airline eyes flights to PH

A Taiwan-based budget airline owned by China Airlines Group is planning to launch flights to the Philippines.

A regulatory filing with the Philippines’s Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) showed that Tigerair Taiwan was seeking the government’s approval for a foreign air carrier’s permit for scheduled passenger and cargo services.

The CAB said a hearing on the matter was set for Aug. 8.

Tigerair Taiwan, based in Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, started operations in 2014. It has a fleet of 11 Airbus A320 planes and flies to 15 destinations including Macau, Japan and Thailand, information on its website showed.

Despite a change in ownership, the Tigerair brand is likely familiar to Filipino flyers.

Tigerair Philippines used to operate in the country until 2014, when it was bought by Cebu Pacific operator, Cebu Air Inc. The former was subsequently rebranded to Cebgo.

Around the same time, Singapore Airlines (SIA) took control of Tigerair, which was eventually merged with SIA’s budget airline Scoot.

Tigerair was a minority shareholder of Tigerair Taiwan until 2017, when China Airlines Group assumed full control.

The CAB, in its hearing notice, outlined several more steps in the application process.

It noted that Tigerair Taiwan must publish the notice at least once a week for three consecutive weeks.

Parties opposed to the granting of the application must file their written statements to the CAB.

It said failure of other parties to file their opposition on time “shall be construed as a waiver of their right to be heard” and CAB would proceed and consider the application based on its merits.