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Low Cost Flying in Asia |
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There are basically two types of traveler within Asia - the business traveler whose company pays the ticket and the rest of us. The rest of us are tourists, families, entrepreneurs, travelers. This page will follow the fortunes of the low cost carriers in Asia - and will try to tell you who is flying where and what the best deals are. WHAT IS A LOW COST CARRIER Self explanatory really. Low costs equal low fares. How do these airlines keep their costs low? They use one type of aircraft. They keep it in the air as long as they can during the day. They don't give free meals; they don't show movies. They use young, eager, hard working and relatively cheap crew! They don't have old union agreements to fret over. They negotiate everything with their suppliers. They don't use travel agents. You book online or through a call centre. They don't transfer your bags and they don't do interlining. They don't use large planes. You cannot turn around (unload and load) a 747 in 20 minutes. SO WHAT DO YOU GET Cheap fares. A seat. And generally on time. Usually flying on a small single aisle 737 or Airbus 320. In India meals are often served. A simple meal is also served on Valuair. Most airlines opt for the sales cart. Some sell alcohol and some do not. Jetstar and Tiger for instance will sell you a glass of wine. Air Asia does not sell alcohol. Air Asia and Tiger do not have pre-assigned seating. Other airlines do assign seating and it can be a bit of a scrum to board the plane. AND WHAT DO YOU PAY. That all depends on when you book and when you want to fly. If you want to fly at a weekend or holiday expect to pay more. If you want to fly tomorrow expect to pay more. For example. BKK to SIN on Air Asia can be from Baht 699 to over Baht 3,000; before taxes and fule surcharges. About 30% of fares are sold at the lowest price. WHAT WILL COME NEXT To start with expect more low cost carriers. And then some consolidation. Expect even greater cost saving efforts. In Europe Ryanair's new 737s are delivered with: Seats that do not recline (they dont break so easily), no window shades, and no seatback pockets (these are hard to keep clean. The safety instructions are printed on the back of the fold down table. It looks like the accountants have thought of everything. RyanAir now charges for checked in baggage. Will the Asian airlines follow? Expect the big boys to try to play the same game with their own LCCs subsidised by big brother. Qantas, Thai, SQ and Garuda are all creating imitation LCCs. THE INDUSTRY LCC HEAVWEIGHTS
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Thailand
Singapore
Malaysia
Indonesia:
Hong Kong
Macau
Philippines
India: Already here
Australia/New Zealand
Pakistan Middle East
LCC Terminals:
Budget
Terminal Singapore
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Latest News -
14 March 2008 Air Asia will
start Kuala Lumpur-Hong Kong flights on May 15, 2008 with fares starting
from RM49.99/HK$99. 7 November 2006 This weekend Jetstar will start daily services on the Cairns-Darwin-Singapore route when it takes over existing Qantas operations.
7 November 2006 Thai AirAsia is acquiring its 11th aircraft about the
middle of next month, enabling it to increase its flights to selected
destinations and thereby enhance its services for both domestic and
international passengers. 17 July 2006 Thai Air Asia adds a daily return flight from Bangkok to Rangoon starting on 16 August 2006. 10 March 2006 Thai Air Asia starts a daily flight to Surat Thani from 1 April 2006. The flight leaves BKK at 9.00am daily and the return flight leaves Surat Thani at 10.45am. Fares from Baht 499 one way +++. 23 February 2006 Tiger Airways is beefing up its Singapore-Bangkok route to 11 flights weekly from 15 April 2006 compared with the current seven flights weekly. The additional flights will be available on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Seats for the additional flights go on sale today from Sin$34.98 / 950 Baht (excluding taxes) one way. 23 February 2006 Tiger Airways is planning to launch flights to the Chinese cities of Haikou, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in April this year. This takes Tiger more aggressively into the Chinese market than any of Asia's other LCCs. Tiger Airways will initially be flying four times a week to Haikou and three times a week to both Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The sales of seats to these three destinations are expected to start on 24 February. 24 January 2006 Hong Kong-listed Shun Tak Holdings Ltd. (0242.HK) said Tuesday it has formed a new budget airline with Air Macau and China National Aviation Co. (1110.HK), joining a competitive market as Asia's low-cost carrier sector takes off. Macau Asia Express will offer flights from the booming gaming enclave of Macau to cities in China and Asia. The new airline didn't specify the routes it plans to serve, but said it won't overlap with Air Macau. 6 January 2006 AirAsia will start a new domestic routes from BKK to the resort province of Krabi in late January with two flights a day, and to Surat Thani by early February with the same number of flights. The airline also plans to add a number of flights from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Hat Yai, Phuket, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Udon Thani. r |
