Taiwan's StarLux Airlines said Sunday it was planning to raise more funds later this year to boost its working capital, despite an improvement in its financial situation in the first quarter.
StarLux spokesman Nieh Kuo-wei (???) told CNA that the airline, which started commercial flights in January 2020, could inject further capital or look for financing, after an earlier capital infusion of NT$4 billion (US$136.5 million) in April.
The company has been gradually decreasing its losses, Nieh said, citing its Q1 revenue of NT$270 million, up 46.74 percent from NT$184 million for the same period last year.
However, according to the Civil Aeronautics Administration's (CAA) Q1 report on the operations of Taiwanese carriers, StarLux still reported a net loss of NT$1.2 billion, which increased the airline's accumulated losses since it began operating to NT$8.1 billion.
Nieh said the airline remained under pressure due to COVID-19, but it was seeing a recovery in the passenger flight sector as countries across the world gradually loosen border controls.
The carrier still plans to launch long-haul flights to the west coast of the United States in Q1 2023 as scheduled because post-pandemic travel could result in sizable revenue, Nieh said.
StarLux also plans to take delivery of five single-aisle Airbus A321neo planes, as well as two A330neo and two A350 planes, said Nieh.
This will be a boost to its current fleet of eight A321neo and two A330neo planes.
According to the CAA, the only domestic airlines to report a net profit in Q1 were China Airlines and EVA Airways, with NT$3 billion and NT$3.3 billion, respectively.
StarLux reported the heaviest losses among the remaining five airlines that also include Tigerair Taiwan, Mandarin Airlines, UNI Air, and Daily Air Corporation.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel