Six Thousand Won Flight Tickets for Phuket and Singapore Route

The boom of low price airlines that has recently stirred up the American and European airline industry has finally made a “landing” in the Asia region, reported the Wall Street Journal on March 2. Low cost airlines have sprung up like sunflowers as the number of middle-class in Asian countries, who have a strong desire for travel and are sensitive to the price, has sharply increased, and each country has eased aviation regulations.

Tickets are selling for as little as 10 dollars or less as low cost airlines competitively launch marketing campaigns. For example, a start-up cheap airline in Singapore, Tiger Airways, sold a limited amount of one-way tickets to Phuket, Thailand from Singapore for 6.09 dollars or around 6,000 won each. Its one-way ticket from Bangkok to Singapore is merely 14.17 dollars.

Another Singapore low-cost airline, Jetstar Asia, is selling one-way tickets to Hong Kong from Singapore for 33 dollars. The price does not include taxes and commissions, which usually account for around 20 to 40 dollars per ticket.

Not to be left out, new airline companies such as Nok Air in Thailand, Oasis Hong Kong Airlines in Hong Kong, and AirAsia in Malaysia are preparing to start their services.

Ultra-cheap tickets are usually available temporarily during as a marketing promotion, but the regular fares of low-cost airlines are cheap: up to 200 dollars cheaper compared to existing major airlines. For example, Tiger Airways sells a round-trip ticket between Singapore and Phuket for only 86 dollars.

Some low-cost airlines in the Asian region often select routes avoiding existing core routes, or develop new routes.

The newspaper also said that travelers can purchase their tickets with credit cards on the English websites of those companies, and that it is recommended that potential passengers subscribe to their e-mail information news letters since those companies provide discount promotions when they launch a new route.

However, it is hard to expect good service from most low-priced airlines because they do not provide seat reservation services, charge additional costs for extra baggage or beverages, and do not even give departure announcements through the airport information center.

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Hye-Yoon Park parkhyey@donga.com