The nation’s only low-cost carrier, Tigerair Taiwan Ltd (台灣虎航), has partnered with the Rakuten Monkeys baseball team to offer a tour to Japan’s Miyako Island, as well as cobranded products, to create new revenue streams, the airline said yesterday.
Tigerair repainted one of its Airbus A320 jets and placed an image of the team’s mascot “Rocky” on its body and would use the aircraft for the flight.
Although cruise flights have gained popularity since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tigerair said its package would be different, as Rakuten star players Wang Yi-cheng (王溢正) and Huang Tzu-peng (黃子鵬), as well as the Rakuten Girls cheerleaders, would accompany passengers on the tour.
Photo: Tony Yao, Taipei Times
“Baseball fans can ask for players’ autographs and interact with them and the cheerleaders before boarding, and sing the team’s songs on the airplane as they would at a baseball game. We want them to feel as excited as they are in a stadium,” Tigerair president Steve Chang (張明瑋) told a news conference in Taoyuan.
The flight would be held on April 11 and cost each passenger NT$5,410, Chang said.
The airline would consider a second tour if the response is positive, he said.
Cobranded products — such as jerseys, travel pillows, model airplanes, masks, suitcase covers and mugs — are aimed at aviation enthusiasts and baseball fans, Tigerair said.
It is vital for Tigerair to generate revenue from new businesses or programs to offset the pandemic’s effects on its passenger operations, the airline said.
Unlike other carriers, Tigerair could not pivot to an air cargo business quickly due to a lack of cargo planes, spokesman Bernard Hsu (許致遠) told the Taipei Times.
“Although we have applied to transport the goods in passenger jets’ cabins, the demand for air cargo was not that strong for us, as we mostly fly to second-tier cities in Asia,” Hsu said.
Tigerair, with 11 aircraft, has leased out some of its jets to Mandarin Airlines Ltd (華信航空), which focuses on domestic flights.
The leasing income has become a stable revenue stream for Tigerair, Hsu said, adding that the number of jets it offers would increase with next month’s Penghu International Fireworks Festival.
Tigerair expects a new revenue stream from offering jets and crew to Palau Pacific Airways, which aims to enhance its operation between Taiwan and Palau after the nations established a “travel bubble” last week, Hsu said.
“The number of jets we provide for Palau Pacific Airways would be dynamic and depend on the number of flights from Taiwan to Palau the airline plans to operate,” he said.
Overall, Tigerair has a rosier outlook for this year than last year, expecting border controls to ease in the second half of this year on the back of vaccination programs worldwide, chairman Kevin Chen (陳漢銘) said yesterday.
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