Originally Posted by
TravellingChris
The problem with the Taiwanese carriers is that they don't have a price advantage over their regional rivals. I travel from time to time between western North America and Southeast Asia (Singapore, Saigon, Kuala Lumpur, etc.) and invariably the best pricing is via Japan. I'm perfectly willing to use EVA or China Airlines but I won't pay a 20-30% premium to do so, especially when I have always been impressed with ANA and its service. The only way Taiwanese carriers (including Starlux) are going to make a bigger impact is by offering better value on transpacific flights. That simply isn't happening at present.
During the early days of FT, the Korean and Taiwanese carriers were the cheapest Transpac options in premium cabins BY FAR, and SQ used to match them (to/from SEL/TPE only, of course), so sub $1000 (I guess that would be around $1500 nowadays) J fares were readily available.
Back on topic, if JX can manage to grow to be about the same size as BR (that's pretty much where it needs to be to achieve critical mass, I think) and the market doesn't expand by ~30% during the same timeframe, average fares would pretty much have to drop, no?