Tigerair Taiwan yesterday announced that its year-end bonus for employees would be an average of 10.8 months of pay this year, the highest among all Taiwanese airlines, after its workers’ union complained last week that their salary increase is the lowest among all Taiwanese airlines.
“After I explained to the board members what we accomplished last year and our plans for the next 10 years, the board agreed that… the year-end bonus for employees would be an average of 10.8 months salary,” Tigerair Taiwan Ltd (台灣虎航) chairman Kevin Chen (陳漢銘) said.
“The highest bonus an employee could receive is 14 months salary,” he added.
Photo: Ting Yi, Taipei Times
Meanwhile, the salary increase for employees would be 11.48 percent on average this year, while the food allowance would increase by 12 percent, Chen said, adding that the year-end bonus was already in the employees’ bank accounts by the time the news was announced.
The union on Thursday accused Taiwan’s only budget airline of overworking their employees. Although each employee is said to have earned the airline NT$1.67 million (US$53,500) last year, the union said that the airline’s salary increase among workers is the lowest compared with China Airlines, EVA Airways and Starlux Airlines.
After the airline made the announcement, the union said on Facebook: “Our voices have been heard, and the company responded to our petitions!”
“We thank the union’s board and members, as well as other workers’ unions for their efforts and support. We also thank Tigerair Taiwan and the executives who assisted us in building better and more pleasant labor relations,” the union said.
The nation’s only budget
airline is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Today, it is to launch a new route to Fukushima, which would become its 19th route to Japan.
Chen yesterday said it is expanding its flight network by launching new flights to Japan, China and Southeast Asia.
Aside from Fukushima, the airline is considering launching new flights to Japan’s Tottori, Shizuoka, Oita and Miyazaki, as well as Shimane Prefecture, Chen said.
“We are paying much closer attention to our flight services to Japan, which account for more than 80 percent of our revenue,” Chen said.
Passengers who apply for a new passport for the first time would be given a discount on
airfare to Japan, Chen said.
Regarding China, the airline is gauging the possibility of launching flights to Tianjin, Wuxi, Fuzhou, Xiamen and Zhangjiajie, he added.
This summer, the airline is to launch flights to Hong Kong, he said, adding: “In the initial phase, we would fly two flights to Hong Kong per day, with one departing from Taipei and the other from Kaohsiung.”
The airline is also evaluating the feasibility of launching flights to Haiphong City in Vietnam and Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Chen said.
The airline is increasing flights to Phuket in Thailand this year, Chen said, adding that Tigerair Taiwan remains the sole carrier to the island from Taiwan.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS