I recently returned from Taipei, love the city and its street life – a quirky mix of Chinese and Japanese flavours – and it made me realize it's the only market in North Asia now that doesn't have a home-based low cost carrier.
Ya, sad.
Most people go to Taipei to rave about the beef noodles, the braised oyster noodles and spring onion cakes but me, I've got airlines on my mind. Shows I've been flying too much. Either that or I need a holiday.
And maybe that's what more people in Taiwan need too.
At Taipei airport, I spoke to the young girl checking me in and she was yearning to visit Singapore and travel more, but she told me that she couldn't afford too many trips.
When I asked her why she didn't take the low cost airlines – there are at least seven foreign low cost airlines flying into Taipei from Korea, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore, four of which started only in the last few months – she asked, "Are they safe?"
See, low cost airlines are still a new thing in Taiwan and this is one highly traditional market where distribution is firmly in the hands of travel agents and consolidators, and the relationship between airlines and agents is, in a word, complex.
So low cost airlines have not been able to make the direct connection they want to with the Taiwanese consumers. "The marketing hasn't been that effective here, most of them operate through GSAs so unlike in other markets like China, low cost airlines are not seen as hip or cool, just cheap," said one industry observer.
I asked a couple of airline folk if they felt a nationally-based low cost airline would work and most of them are pretty skeptical about it. "Air fares are already so cheap out of Taiwan so how can anyone go any cheaper?" said one.
When Scoot launched its flights to Taipei, its promotional fares were 50% lower than Singapore Airlines, which shows there is room to go lower. But whether such low fares can be sustained in a closed, conservative market, it's hard to tell.
Full story:
www.webintravel.com//blog/taiwan-a-change-is-gonna-come_3412 
