Aviation Week ranks Taiwan's TransAsia No.6 for performance

A TransAsia plane at its hangar at Hualien airport

TransAsia Airways, a mid-sized Taiwanese international carrier, said Friday that it has been ranked sixth globally in terms of performance in a 2012 ranking carried out by US-based trade magazine Aviation Week.

TransAsia said it was the only local carrier to make the top 10 list in the magazine's Top-Performing Airlines rankings, with a total score of 72.

TransAsia was also the only local carrier to make the top 10 in the Asia-Pacific, ranking third in that category, the carrier said.

The magazine's study evaluated the carriers' liquidity, weighting,financial health, earnings performance, fuel cost management and asset utilization, according to TransAsia.

In the global ranking, AirAsia topped the list with a score of 81, ahead of Air Arabia with 78, Ryanair with 78, Hainan Airlines with 77 and Allegiant Air with 77, TransAsia said. Vueling Airlines placed seventh with a score of 72 ahead of Copa Airlines with 71, Singapore Airlines with 70 and WestJet
Airlines with 69.

On its website, Aviation Week noted that with the exception of Singapore Airlines, all of the top 10 best performers are small and medium carriers,indicating that smaller airlines are exploiting a particular niche market. In the current airline business, the magazine said, bigger is not necessarily better.

In the Asia-Pacific rankings, AirAsia came top, followed by Hainan Airlines, TransAsia, Singapore Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Regional Express, Qantas Airways, Cebu Air, Garuda Indonesia and Air New Zealand.

Meanwhile, TransAsia said its average load factor in June stood at 78%, while the load factor on its international routes and domestic services reached 76% and 79%, respectively. The load factor on its cross-Taiwan Strait routes reached 80% during the month.

The carrier added that with the current peak season, it expects its load factor to continue to rise in July and August.