T'way Air, 1st Anniversary of A330-300 Introduction... "Route Expansion and Cargo Transport Increase"

[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] T'way Air marked the 1st anniversary of introducing the large aircraft A330-300 on the 24th. Over the past year, the introduction of the large aircraft has been credited with expanding routes and increasing cargo transport volume.

T'way Air decided to introduce medium-to-large aircraft as a new growth engine. This was in consideration of intensified competition on medium- and short-haul routes mainly operated by LCCs and the saturation of major airport slots. In February last year, the first A330-300 model was introduced domestically and was deployed on the Gimpo~Jeju route starting in March. Subsequently, the 2nd and 3rd A330-300s were additionally introduced in April and May of the same year.

With the deployment of the 347-seat A330 and flexible seasonal aircraft operation, the seat shortage was resolved. The aircraft was deployed on the Gimpo~Jeju route in spring to respond to the surge in peak season demand, and later was also deployed on the popular Incheon~Bangkok route.

Additionally, the aircraft was successively deployed on the newly launched Incheon~Singapore and Incheon~Ulaanbaatar routes last year. This was part of route expansion and supply increase efforts. To respond to the surge in demand following the easing of Japan's quarantine regulations, the A330 was partially deployed on Japan routes as well. This maximized profitability. At the end of last year, T'way Air took its first step into long-haul operations by launching the new Incheon~Sydney route.

T'way Air actively utilized the lower cargo hold of the A330 aircraft for large-scale belly cargo transport. In March last year, to ensure efficient cargo transport and management, the airline signed a supply contract for Unit Load Devices (ULDs). From May, it began expanding its international cargo transport business using the A330 in earnest.

Looking at T'way Air's international cargo transport volume, it increased more than twofold over three years from 3,670 tons in 2019 to 7,809 tons in 2022. Among last year's cargo transport volume, about 90% was carried by the A330, with route share highest in Singapore, Bangkok, and Tokyo (Narita) in that order.

T'way Air stated that the cargo transport volume on the newly launched Sydney route at the end of last year has stabilized. The airline is actively pursuing new demand attraction, including additional leasing of containers for transporting Australian chilled meat.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.