EVA Air spreads its wings with big network

EVA Air spreads its wings with big network

By Ardimas Sasdi

Taiwan's privately-owned EVA Air, which began flights to
Indonesia in July 1991, organized its first ever tour for
Indonesian journalists to the company's maintenance facility and
training center in Taipei from Aug. 19 to Aug. 22. Following an
invitation by EVA Air The Jakarta Post reports on the airline's
rapid ascent.

TAIPEI (JP): Top executives from private Taiwanese airline EVA
Air may never have imagined that they would be able to meet their
targets so quickly when the airline was established in March
1989.

Eight years later, the company founded with only one plane by
Taiwanese transport giant Evergreen Group has a fleet of 27 jets,
comprising freighters, passenger jets and Combis.

The company will add a MD-11 freighter and a B747-400
passenger jet in November, and another MD-11 the following month,
lifting its number of planes to 30 by the end of the year.

Delivery of two B-747-400 passenger jets and two MD-11
freighters are expected next year.

"Within five years, or before 2002, our fleet will increase to
60, double the current number," EVA Air's junior vice president,
K.W. Nieh, told Indonesian journalists visiting the company's
maintenance facility and training center in Taoyuan, Taipei, late
last week.

EVA Air -- The Wings of Taiwan -- flies to Asia, New Zealand,
Australia, Europe and Central America. It also serves several
cities in the United States, including San Francisco, Seattle,
Los Angeles, Anchorage, New York, Newark and Honolulu.

"We had only one plane when we launched the service in July
1991. Even McDonnel (Douglas) doubted our ability and gave only
one old plane," Nieh remembered of the initial start-up
difficulties.

Within a week of operation EVA Air had five routes, linking
Taipei with Bangkok, Seoul, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta.

Two months later, the airline started flights between Taipei
and Penang, and in November of that year opened a route to
Vienna.

It continued to expand through this year -- EVA Air now serves
more than 30 major business and leisure destinations on four
continents.

The company employs 5,600 people and booked a US$7.2 million
profit in 1995 and $17.08 million last year.

"For the year 1997 our revenue is predicted to reach $1.33
billion with a $23 million profit," Nieh said.

Service has always been on top of the airline's agenda,
according to president of ERA Airways Corporations Richard Huang.

"From the beginning, our guiding philosophy has always been to
make service the priority," he said. "This emphasis on service
has made it one of EVA Air's dominant features."

Safety

EVA Air's commitment to safety and reliability has earned it
accolades from passengers all over the world. It has a long list
of major industry awards including Common Wealth Magazine's Best
Airline award 1996, Travel Trade News', Best Airline award 1995,
Austrian magazine Reisen's Best Seats and Friendliness award
1995, the Far East Economic Review's High Quality Services and
Products award in 1994 and 1995, and the Australian Tourism
Commission's prestigious Koala Award in 1994, 1995 and 1996.

The company's overriding concern for safety can be seen
through its comprehensive controls and risk management strategies
at every level of the organization.

A series of seminars and symposiums have been developed to
sharpen staff's awareness of flight safety and to guard against
negligence.

EVA Air also uses high technology flight monitoring and
analysis equipment to standardize flight operations.

The airline built a 28,000-square-meter maintenance center at
Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport at a cost of 3 billion
Taiwan dollars ($107.1 million).

The company's maintenance center can accommodate three wide-
bodied aircraft and has been certified by the U.S. Federal
Aviation Administration. It also serves other airlines.

"We have received service orders from Philippines Airlines and
other foreign airlines," planning section manager Wu-Cheng Own
confirmed.

He said the maintenance center could handle all types of
repair work, ranging from minor repairs, machine overhauls, or
modifying passenger jets to cargo planes.

Training is emphasized for all staff -- considered the
company's most valuable assets -- as the management is keen to
ensure workers are updated with the latest developments in
aviation knowledge and flight skills.

The program for international copilots consists of a ground
course including aerodynamics, performance, meteorology, flight
instrument, rules of the air and procedures, radiotelephony to
reach ATPL level and full-flight simulator training.

EVA AIR's training center director, Ruby Lu said: "Pilots are
trained here to allow them to obtain specific aircraft type
ratings or to give them the decision-making and command skills
required for promotion to line captain status. Senior pilot have
to do training with minor guidance from instructors who always
evaluate their work and then make performance appraisal on the
course participants".

The 14-story training center at EVA Air's Taoyuan headquarters
in Nankan also provides training for flight crew, flight
attendants and ground staff to ensure proper procedures are
followed.

The training center focuses on issues of morality, knowledge,
health, cooperation and charm, and instructors and trainees live
in together at the center to foster mutual respect and care.

Staff can also relax at the training center's comprehensive
health and recreational facilities. Among these are a heated
indoor swimming pool, gymnasium, aerobics center, table tennis
room, outdoor tennis course, basketball courts, karaoke lounge
and a beauty salon.

EVA Air's commitment to safety, service and training are
impressive, but improvements are still needed in the flight
crews' English, menu selections and provision of complementary
keepsakes for passengers.