Budget Airline Blog

Cheap as chips carrier AirAsia is giving away 1 million free seats in a costly gamble to boost future traffic demand.

The World’s largest budget airline group hopes to offset the free fares, estimated to cost at least 2 billion baht, with earnings from optional services such as in-flight food and beverages and priority boarding.

Thai AirAsia chief executive Tassapon Bijleveld yesterday said the offer was primarily aimed at creating “excitement” in the Thai and regional tourism markets.

If you are travelling to asia ensure you take out travel insurance over 80 to all destinations, particularly if you are a senior.

The free seats will raise the carrier’s load factor from Jan 3 to May 8, 2011, when travel under the promotion is permitted, said an industry source.

New airline Firefly, a subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines, has this month begun routes from Singapore’s Changi airport.

It is the fourth new airline to join the airport this year and currently flies three daily flights from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur.

The airline is now the third airline to be based at the Budget Terminal, and despite offering a promotional one way fare of $31 all in for its Malaysian destinations, Firefly has been careful to avoid the traditional associations of budget airlines.

Managing director Eddy Leong pointed out that unlike many no-frills budget airlines, Firefly offers services such as a free baggage allowance of up to 20 kg, complimentary in-flight refreshments and allocated seats.

FIrefly hopes to be viewed instead as a ‘community airline’.

Air Asia is to be Min Yoos new shirt sponsor! The deal is soon to be announced and Air Asia will take over from AIG who are currently in big financial strife!

Air Asia now flies to the UK from KL and offers the long haul cramped seat experience.

Air Asia X who are about to start flying all the way to London from KL, Malaysia have announced brisk ticket sales for their new trans continental service.

The service to London Stansted, which is London’s main budget airport, is due to start in March. Everyone is hoping that they have more success than Oasis Hong Kong who went bust last year.

An online travel magazine tracking Asia’s hotels, spas and airlines has ranked India’s low-cost carrier SpiceJet among the top 10 budget airlines!

The magazine, SmartTravelAsia, based its finding on a survey between May and July on low-cost carriers (LCC), SpiceJet said in a press statement on Monday.

The survey also said the airline has made its mark by maintaining schedules, competent service and extensive route network and access.

The chief commercial officer of SpiceJet, Samyukth Sridharan, said the airline has been able to attract fliers by keeping fares affordable and introducing exciting schemes besides expanding its network.

“Our on-time performance is among the best in India at 82 percent and technical dispatch reliability of 99.6 percent makes us an airline with least cancellations,” said Sridharan.

Korean Air’s budget affiliate has disclosed its corporate identity (CI) along with new name “Jin Air.”

Jin Air, which will start operation of the Gimpo-Jeju route on July 17, made public its image, models of aircraft and cabin crew uniform at an inauguration ceremony held in downtown Seoul Sunday.

The carrier has abandoned the tentative name of Air Korea and adopted Jin Air, which has the same pronunciation as the Chinese character meaning “truth” and “sincerity.” Its slogan is “Fly, better fly ? Jin Air.”

Pursuing “freshness” and “pragmatism,” the budget airline showed unconventionality in many aspects.

The logo is a butterfly in blue and purple with a yellowish green background ? the butterfly signifies that passengers can fly freely wherever they want. The carrier’s B737-800 aircraft is colored in the yellowish green, a rare color among airlines.

Sri Lanka’s state-run budget carrier has suspended operations indefinitely because of a lack of planes, an aviation official said Sunday.

The budget airline, Mihin Lanka, has been dogged with financial trouble since it began commercial operations last April.

“They (Mihin) don’t have an aircraft to fly passengers since the beginning of this month,” Sri Lanka’s civil aviation chief, Parakrama Dissanayake told AFP.

Mihin’s last aircraft, an Airbus A321 taken on lease, was reclaimed by its Bulgarian owners at the end of April, as the airline was unable to make payments, an airline industry source, who declined to be named, said.

South African budget airline Nationwide stopped operations with immediate effect Tuesday because of financial problems.

The company has a fleet of 17 planes which mainly cover domestic and short haul routes, with flights to London three times per week. It was not immediately clear how many passengers were stranded.

“Our cash-flow has become critical and as a result we have decided to voluntarily cease all flight operations until further notice,” Nationwide chief executive Vernon Bricknell said in a statement carried by the South African Press Association.

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.

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.

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.