For the record, Aero-holic is not dead, I just took a 1 year vacation! Good news for all, the fastest growing segment of air travel has gone faster with onslaught of low fare airlines also known as low cost carriers. Who would have thought that the SQ backed LCC Scoot would have $380 net fares to Sydney, that is some crazy deal! JQ is on to domestic Japan, and also Hong Kong with "eyes" towards local China cities. The airline industry is indeed turning inside out, then back in again, with arms outstretched for the consumer dollar. God knows how far this industry has evolved, some carriers even offer "scratchies" as part of their ancillary revenue gimmicks! Now, ever wonder why LCC are so cheap?
These are the mantras of running LCCs, nothing "alienish", only my simpleton 2-cents:
- Higher seat density on aircraft- more seats=more capacity=more bums, so simple!
- Fast turnaround- these LCC dont stay on ground for long, their pilots swear by red bull
- Direct flights
- Smaller airport- even heard of Avalon airport? Jetstar started from here!
- Tickets sold directly- Internet booking, no paying to the GDS bogey man
- No Frills- No free booze in LCC, dont even try!
- Standardised fleet- Yup, no A380s here
- Ancillary revenue- they get creative here, charges for excess weight, use of restrooms, etc
- High variable-proportion of salary- multi task, salary peg to performance! Pilots bring their personalised tiffin boxes
What do we gain? Your total advantage is about 40%-50% in savings over regular airlines.
Low Cost Carrier, light on your pocket, easy to fly
easyJet > BA
AirAsia > MAS,
Jetstar >Qantas
....hmm Scoot > SQ, Lets start Scooting! Oops, I meant packing!
