Asia a hotbed of budget carriers

Singapore : Low-cost carriers (LCC) are thriving in Asia-Pacific so much so that they would represent 33-40% of combined airline seats in the region by 2015 or 2016 from less than 20% currently, according to an aviation expert.
With two huge economies - China and India - embedded in the region, Asia-Pacific will unquestionably become the world's largest LCC market and the penetration of the LCC sector into the total airline industry will be relentless.
Asia-Pacific's total air transport market is growing at 7-8% a year, twice the rest of the world, and the LCC sector is going to grow much faster than that, said Peter Harbison, chairman of Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation (Capa), a Sydney-based aviation research body.
What is happening here is consistent with the global trend in which no-frills airlines accounting for 23.4% of the world's total seat capacity last year, the Capa statistics show.
Asia-Pacific is catching up with other geographical areas where the LCC industry has become more mature. In Europe, LCCs represented 35.3% of the total capacity last year. The figures were 28.6% in North America and 29.9% in Central and South America.
"If you look at the aircraft orders, and taking China out, over half of all the new seats on orders are by LCCs, underlying the growth (in Asia-Pacific)," Mr Harbison told the Bangkok Post.
03/02/11 Bangkok Post

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Categories: Foreign Feb 2011, Low Cost General Feb 2011