Mandarin Air reports declining load factor

The CNMI government may need to launch bigger promotions if it intends to capture a bigger slice of the Taiwanese tourism market, after Mandarin Airlines disclosed a declining trend in arrivals from Taipei only three months since the service was launched in May.

Mandarin Airlines has been dispatching aircraft that are only about 63 percent loaded with passengers in October, representing a 12 percent fall from the 75 percent load factor recorded during the previous month.

Overall passenger traffic from Taipei dropped 10 percent last month to 936 arrivals from 1,034 in September, disclosed Mandarin Airlines Saipan Station manager Charlie Ling during a telephone interview.

Mandarin Airlines’ witnessed a major drop in load factor beginning August when its passenger haul plunged four percent to 87 percent from 91 percent in July. The carrier’s load factor also registered a 12 percent drop to 75 percent between August and September.

“Part of the reason is the dramatic fall of Taipei stocks in the last few weeks which basically weakened most of our clients spending power since quite a big number of them hold stocks in the country’s bourse,” Mr. Ling said.

Taiwanese stock investors who now face significant losses in their bourse investments due to economic slowdown comprise a big slice of Mandarin Air’s passengers, according to the airline executive.

Mr. Ling also pointed out that the drop was not confined to Saipan-bound travelers but to all routes served by Mandarin Air in major tour destinations in Asian countries like Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and the Philippines.

Mandarin Air expects passenger haul to pick up again beginning November up until February, or during the Christmas season and the Chinese New Year, and then again during the summer months.

Travelers from Taiwan have slowly made themselves known as the next most important market for the CNMI tourism industry as the Taipei-based carrier reported that it has exceeded the 80 percent load factor target in the first four months of its flight services to the island.

The carrier reported the highest load factor in July that reached 91 percent. Mandarin Air has scheduled to deploy 69 flights until the end of the year.

With the beginning of direct air service between Taipei and Saipan, Commonwealth officials are expecting to get a good share of over five million Taiwanese who take overseas travels once every year.

At least one in every four Taiwanese travel abroad every year although mainland China has remained the most popular destination in recent years.

The island-nation, which is home to over 22 million people, has one of the best standards of living in the world.

Mandarin Air uses B737-800 aircraft in all of its charter flights between Taipei and Saipan. The aircraft can accommodate 158 passengers.