Budget Airline Blog

OasisHongKong Airlines, a long-distance budget carrier that tried to offer premium service and spacious seats at low prices, suddenly went into liquidation Wednesday and canceled all flights, the fourth budget carrier to halt operations in the past week and a half.

The bankruptcy filing by Oasis stranded thousands of passengers in Hong Kong, London and Vancouver, British Columbia. Many of the would-be passengers stuck in Hong Kong are children trying to return to British boarding schools after going home for the spring break.

High jet fuel prices have taken a heavy toll on the airline industry and particularly on budget carriers trying to compete on price with low profit margins. The other three to shut down since March 31, all in the United States, are Aloha Airgroup, ATA Airlines and Skybus Airlines.

Singapore’s discount airline Tiger Airways has confirmed speculation it will be the next carrier to enter the transtasman market.

Speaking to the Australian Aviation Press Club in Sydney, chief executive Tony Davis said the Australia-New Zealand service was on the radar.

Earlier reports said Tiger was eyeing Palmerston North, among other New Zealand airports, where competition was low or non-existent.

Mr Davis said Tiger, which is part-owned by Singapore Airlines and Ryan Air, would take delivery of two A319 aircraft toward the end of the year as it prepared to launch more services to regional destinations in Australia.

Tiger would also add a fifth A320 jet to its Australian fleet next month, which together with the A319s would expand its seating capacity by 65 per cent.

The carrier has been allowed to keep its nine different categories of cheap fares.

Six of them cost between 55 and 80 percent of the ceiling fare, and the remaining super-cheap tickets cost from VND15,000 to 50 percent of the maximum fare.

Pacific Airlines had a makeover as a no-frills airline in February last year.

The state-run Vietnam Airlines too has submitted to the Vietnam Civil Airline Bureau for approval new airfares on domestic routes.

Budget Long Haul

Korea’s two largest airlines have joined the low-cost carrier business, with Korean Air having founded Air Korea and Asiana Airlines having bought a controlling stake in Pusan International Air, which has launched budget carrier Air Pusan.Jeju Air and Hansung Airlines, which have been operating domestic services for more than two years, both plan to launch international services in the second half of this year.

Even foreign budget airlines have turned their eyes to Korea’s domestic market. Tiger Airways, a budget affiliate of Singapore Airlines, is planning to advance into Korea by joining forces with the city of Incheon.

The Philippine budget airline Cebu Pacific will start operating a direct fly between Macao and the central Philippine city of Cebu in April, the company announced Monday. The Cebu-Macao flight is initially twice a week (Tuesday and Saturday) starting from April 5 and will expand into a four-times weekly (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday) service beginning from May 8, 2008.

On most days, one-way fare between Macao and Cebu starts from 1,499 pesos (37.48 U.S. dollars) exclusive of taxes and surcharges, the airline said.

“We are happy to provide our Filipino overseas workers in Macao a direct service to Cebu that will easily link them to the islands in the Visayas and Mindanao. Our very low fares will allow them to come home more often,” Lance Gokongwei, president of Cebu Pacific, said in a statement.

Founded in 1996, Cebu Pacific overtook the Philippine Airlines to become the number one airline in the Philippines last year in terms of passengers delivered on domestic routes. It flies to 12 international destinations including three Chinese mainland cities– Xiamen, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Yes Air Downunder looks like the newest airline to go long haul on a budget!

The airline is expected to go live later in 2008.

UK to Aussie and NZ on the cheap!

The popular Singapore to Kuala Lumpur route has been monopolised for the past thirty years by the two nations carriers, Singapore and Malaysia Airways.

As of today the budget airlines have been allowed a piece of the cake. Air Asia will fly twice daily from KL. While Tiger and Jetstar Asia will fly once a day from Singapore.

 Almost two and a half million people where carried over this route last year. Including the budget airlines there will now be 254 flights each week. 

The old average price for a return ticket was around $3200USD but the low-cost carriers will be offering prices from around $140USD.

 Welcome news for budget travellers and backpackers.

A new low cost airline has been announced in Tanzania. Its called Community Airlines and will provide an enormous lift to the countries economy

 Tanzania is most famous for mount Kilimanjaro and its incredible wildlife. Tourism has helped the country grow and now the budget airline will help more tourists move more quickly around the country.

A typical one way flight from Dar Es Salam to Kilimanjaro will cost just $42USD. 

Mr Paul Chizi, the airline’s Chief Executive Officer, said the company is owned by local shareholders.

Nepal finally gets a piece of the budget airline pie with the launch of FlyYeti, a low cost international airline.

International air connections with Nepal are limited to the main big players (Cathay Pacific, Thai and Singapore, to name a few) who all charge high prices for flights into Himalaya kingdom.

Searching for a discounted fare into Nepal was like climbing Everest on the back of a Yak. Now you can call off the search for a bargain flight in and out of Kathmandu as Air Arabia has launched a subsidiary airline - “FlyYeti”, Nepal’s first low-cost carrier.

FlyYeti will allow pasengers an inexpensive way to connect Kathmandu with India,the far east, South Asia and central Asia.

Its welcome news for budget travellers and backpackers who want to experience the great heights of the Himalaya.

The 5th annual Asia Pacific Low-Cost Airline Congress saw some interesting revelations about two of our budget international airlines and their plans for the future.

In coming months and years Jetstar Air and Virgin Air will look to expanding their budget services internationally on long-haul routes which are yet to see low-cost models applied.

But for the short term, both carriers are looking at different challenges to make the long-haul services viable.

For Jetstar Australia’s expansion into Europe, it’s the delays of the Dreamliners which have put a crimp in their plans.  But they continue to retain the stance that the delays won’t affect them too much.