Asia’s Lcc Expansion Spreads Like Brush Fire

[peter991]

Asia’s LCC expansion spreads like brush fire

High on the agenda for Asia’s burgeoning LCC segment is the overseas expansion, confirmed by a wave of international service announcements. The violations into international service markets will however have a depressing effect on fares, which would be of concern to established carriers.

LCCs are responsible for over 56% of the additional seats offered within the Asia Pacific region this month, with a startling 3.5 million more seats on 19,000 extra services by LCCs alone, compared to May-06. India and Malaysia domestic markets are the hotspots, but the impact is spreading throughout the region like a brush fire.

There are expansion plans of AirAsia, Thai AirAsia, One-Two-Go, Nok Air, Viva Macau and Oasis Hong Kong Airlines. The AirAsia Group is focussing on developing it’s intra-ASEAN network with Malaysian operation planning to open new routes to Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar in the coming months. Southern China is another focus with plans to launch services to Kunming, Chengdu and Chongqing later this year.

The Thai LCC, One-Two-Go is however avoiding China. The carrier will lease 14 MD-80s from Japan Airlines, as part of plans to boost its fleet to 22 aircraft by 2008. There are plans for new routes to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap later this year, as well as Singapore, Malaysia, Denpasar and Bangladesh at a later date.

Nok Air is focusing on India, with plans to launch services to Bangalore, followed by Chennai and Hyderabad, to capture rising demand and boost aircraft utilisation rates by operating back-of-the-clock services across the Bay of Bengal.

In terms of long-haul low-cost options, Viva Macau confirmed plans to launch services to Sydney by late Jul-07 as it takes delivery of its third B767 next month. Across the Pearl River Delta, Oasis Hong Kong Airlines will launch six times weekly Hong Kong-Vancouver service on 28-Jun-07 and confirmed plans to add 5-15 new destinations and up to 25 aircraft to its fleet within five years.

Peter

[mullup]

The tv news in aus today announced that Air Asia would be flying into Melbourne & Adelaide by the end of the year as well.

[Levent]

Nok Air will operate the first flight to Bangalore on 31 May, but it is not possible yet to book online... I think they are losing out on a lot of potential customers by this.

[THAILIBAN]

Nok Air will operate the first flight to Bangalore on 31 May, but it is not possible yet to book online... I think they are losing out on a lot of potential customers by this.

its a THAI AIR subsidiary, so what other thing than poor performance would u expect from the management.

the management staff of Air Asia is still sitting in their office and having a good laugh, when they think of THAI's decision of moving back to Don Muang as a Star-Alliance airline with so many connecting flights (and those connecting passengers now fill Air Asia's planes in the low season).

but thats not a special THAI thing, MALAYSIAN AIRLINES' management is even worse....