Open skies, budget travel: Asian airlines soar

Participants in the Singapore Airshow, which ended yesterday, expressed optimism that the region, particularly China, will lead the rest of the world to recovery after the most harrowing year in global travel.

The world aviation industry lost an estimated US$11 billion in 2009 after a financial crisis that began in the United States grounded travelers and forced airlines to cancel or defer plane orders.

Organizers of the Singapore Airshow said US$10 billion worth of contracts were done during the event, down from US$13 billion in 2008.

“We look forward to the market picking up further as the industry rides the upturn,” said Jimmy Lau, managing director of the show, Asia's biggest civilian-military aerospace conference and exhibition.

Top aircraft makers Boeing and Airbus say Asia will be the world's biggest airplane market in the next 20 years, with orders expected to surpass 8,000 passenger and cargo planes worth over US$1 trillion.

A key demand driver is the explosion in budget air travel.

This has allowed many ordinary Asian families to travel by plane for the first time because of dirt-cheap fares and services to more destinations outside capital cities, ending the dominance of big national carriers.

By the latest count, there are at least 45 low-fare airlines across Asia from Japan to Pakistan. Unlike premium airlines, many of them managed to soar above the economic turbulence.

Singapore budget carrier Tiger Airways announced it has brought forward the delivery of another four Airbus A320s to next year instead of 2016, bringing to nine the number of planes whose delivery has been accelerated.

The carrier, which started flying in 2004, also announced it had flown its 12 millionth passenger — less than two months after the 11-million mark.

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