Tigerair Taiwan

Tigerair Taiwan (traditional Chinese: 臺灣虎航; simplified Chinese: 台湾虎航; pinyin: Táiwān Hǔháng) is a low-cost carrier (LCC) based at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. The airline currently has seven aircraft and will expand its fleet to 12 aircraft by 2016. It was the first Taiwan-based LCC to start operations and one of the two LCCs in the country (The other being V Air of Transasia Airways). It was formed as a joint venture between China Airlines Group and Tiger Airways Holdings. China Airlines holds 80 percent of the share while Tiger Airways Holdings and Mandarin Airlines each hold 10%.

History

Taiwan was the last major market in Asia to not have a low-cost carrier (LCC). In early 2013, China Airlines and Transasia Airways became the first Taiwanese carriers to express interests in forming LCCs. The further reduction in entry barriers by the Civil Aeronautics Administration made it favorable for the creation of LCCs.

In October 2013, China Airlines chairman Sun Hung-Hsiang announced that the airline was in talks with a foreign LCC to start a LCC based in Taiwan. The partnership was made public in December 2013 when China Airlines created a new joint venture with Singaporean low cost carrier Tigerair to establish Tigerair Taiwan. As part of the deal, China Airlines would hold a 90 percent share in the new carrier while Tiger Airways Holdings hold the other 10 percent. In March 2014, China Airlines subsidiary Mandarin Airlines took over 10% of its parent company's share in Tigerair Taiwan.

Taiwan

Coordinates: 23°30′N 121°00′E / 23.500°N 121.000°E / 23.500; 121.000

Taiwan (ⁱ/ˌtaɪˈwɑːn/; Chinese: 臺灣 or 台灣; see below), officially the Republic of China (ROC; Chinese: 中華民國; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Mínguó), is a sovereign state in East Asia. The Republic of China, originally based in mainland China, now governs the island of Taiwan, which constitutes more than 99% of its territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and other minor islands, following its loss of the mainland China territory in 1949 in the Chinese Civil War. This remaining area is also constitutionally called the "Free area of the Republic of China" which is not ruled by the Communist Party of China in Beijing.

Neighboring states include the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the west (mainland China), Japan to the east and northeast, and the Philippines to the south. Taiwan is one of the most densely populated countries in the world with a population density of 649 people per km² in October 2015.Taipei is the seat of the central government, and together with the surrounding cities of New Taipei and Keelung forms the largest metropolitan area on the island.

Taiwan Province

Taiwan Province (Chinese: 臺灣省 or 台灣省; pinyin: Táiwān Shěng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tâi-oân Séng) is one of the two administrative divisions of the Republic of China (ROC) that are officially referred to as "provinces". The province covers approximately 69% of the actual-controlled territory of the ROC, with around 31% of the total population.

Geographically it covers the majority of the island of Taiwan as well as almost all of its surrounding islands, the largest of which are the Penghu archipelago, Green Island, Xiaoliuqiu Island and Orchid Island. Taiwan Province does not cover territories of the special municipalities of Kaohsiung, New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Taipei, and Taoyuan, all of which are located geographically within the main island of Taiwan. It also does not include the counties of Kinmen and Lienchiang, which are located alongside the southeast coast of mainland China and administered as a separate Fujian Province (not to be confused with the PRC's Fujian Province).

Geography of Taiwan

Taiwan (historically called Formosa, from Portuguese: Ilha Formosa, "Beautiful Island", Portuguese pronunciation: [ˌiʎɐ fuɾˈmɔzɐ]) is an island in East Asia; it is located some 180 kilometres (112 miles) off the southeastern coast of mainland China across the Taiwan Strait. It has an area of 35,883 km² (13,855 sq mi) and spans the Tropic of Cancer. The East China Sea lies to the north, the Philippine Sea to the east, the Luzon Strait directly to the south and the South China Sea to the southwest. Taiwan proper makes up 99% of the territory of the Free Area of Republic of China, after the ROC lost its mainland China territory in the Chinese Civil War and fled to the island in 1949, and the country itself is commonly referred to as simply "Taiwan".

Taiwan is a tilted fault block, characterized by the contrast between the eastern two-thirds, consisting mostly of five rugged mountain ranges parallel to the east coast, and the flat to gently rolling plains of the western third, where most of Taiwan's population reside. There are several peaks over 3,500 m, the highest being Yu Shan at 3,952 metres (12,966 ft), making Taiwan the world's fourth-highest island. The tectonic boundary that formed these ranges is still active, and the island experiences many earthquakes, a few of them highly destructive. There are also many active submarine volcanoes in the Taiwan Straits.