1. CHINADAILYASIA
WEEKLY
By KARL WILSON in Sydney
karlwilson@chinadailyapac.com
F
or more than a decade now, Asia’s budget airlines have become part of the region’s aviation fabric,
offering cheap and no-frills air travel to meet the growing needs of the expanding middle class.
While budget airlines or low-cost carriers (LCCs) were once content to grow their business region-
ally, some have started to look further afield to Europe and North America, posing a threat to estab-
lished long-haul network carriers such as Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines.
Malaysia-based AirAsia X and Australia-based Jetstar (Qantas’ budget offshoot) have both started to
explore the uncontested long-haul model. In 2012, Singapore Airlines launched Scoot as an LCC offering medium
and long-haul flights. A long-haul flight lasts from six to twelve hours and is typically made by a wide-body aircraft.
The Philippines’ Cebu Pacific is preparing to launch services to Hawaii by the end of the year and it is also
interested in flying to Melbourne if it is able to secure additional traffic rights for Australia. The two
destinations would be Cebu’s sixth and seventh long-haul destination, joining four in the Middle
East and one in Sydney.
The trend is also evident in rising wide-body aircraft orders from LCCs, albeit
from a small base. AirAsia X now has 23 Airbus A330s in operation and
about 100 wide-body aircraft on order.
ASIA’S BUDGETAIRLINES LOOK INTO
OFFERING INTERNATIONALFLIGHTS,
WHICH MAYCAUSETURBULENCE
FOR FULL-SERVICE CARRIERS
In for the long haul?
VOL 6 NO 26
JULY 3-9, 2015
SEE “AIRLINES” P5
Cover Story
Flagging safety in the skies,
page 6
Low costs, but sky-high ambitions,
page 7
China Business
Sky’s the limit for initiative,
page 20
BANKING ON PROGRESS
AIIB launch promises
infrastructure boost,P9
PERFECT FIT
Making major strides in
apparel innovation,P32
Australia:AUD4(InclGST),Brunei:BND2,Cambodia:KHR4,000,Dubai:AED5,HongKong:HKD6,India:INR20,Indonesia:IDR8,500(InclPPN),Japan:JPY400(InclJCT),Malaysia:MYR2,Myanmar:MMK500,Nepal:NPR30,Philippines:PHP50,RepublicofKorea:KRW2,000,Singapore:SGD3(InclGST),Thailand:THB30
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