Saturday, January 18, 2014

Peach launches Kaohsiung.

Today on January 18th, Peach Aviation (MM/APJ) inaugurated service to Kaohsiung (KHH/RCKH) from Osaka/Kansai (KIX/RJBB). Flown by Airbus A320-214 JA805P, adorned with a decal of Japanese pop idol Mariko Shinoda and dubbed 'Mariko Jet', flight MM35 departed Kansai at 1145 with 139 passengers and arrived at Kaohsiung at 1429 local time. 148 passengers were on board the return flight back to Kansai.

The timetable is as follows:
MM035 KIX 1150 - 1420 KHH 320 Daily
MM036 KHH 1455 - 1835 KIX 320 Daily
Airbus A320-214 JA805P 'Mariko Jet' at Tokyo/Narita. (Photo: Aviation Wire)

This is Peach's third route connecting Japan and Taiwan; Kansai - Taipei/Taoyuan (TPE/RCTP) was launched on October 16, 2012, which was increased to double daily only two months later on December 15, and Okinawa/Naha (OKA/ROAH) - Taoyuan was started on September 20, 2013. The airline has proven to be popular with Taiwanese travelers as well, with them so far accounting for around 60% of seats on these flights.
Peach's network. Matsuyama will be launched on February 1st. (Image: Peach)

Peach's fleet currently stands at 11 Airbus A320-200s all seating 180, flying 10 domestic and six international routes. The next new city will be Matsuyama (MYJ/RJOM), its 10th domestic destination, to be added on February 1st. A modest three more A320s will be acquired in 2014. Peach's hub is Kansai, however, they have already announced intentions to develop Naha into its second hub, with the particular aim of using its strategic location to funnel passengers between the main islands of Japan and yet-to-be-launched destinations in southeast Asia.

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