By ANDREW HEASLEY and AVIATION REPORTER
Fancy flying Australia to London for $378?
Some aviation analysts's predictions that air fares would rise this year as airlines seek to recover losses incurred during the global financial crisis, along with service interruptions from incidents such as Iceland's volcanic eruption, appear to be wrong.
AirAsia is the latest carrier to offer one-way fares from Australia to London via Kuala Lumpur for as little as $378, as part of a special network sale that sees virtual giveaway fares as low as $3 a flight.
And Tiger Airways, fresh from its recent profit announcement, is vowing to keep pushing down domestic air fares and has its eyes on expanding services that may include Pacific Islands and flights to Indonesia.
From today until May 23, AirAsia is offering cut-price fares to 70 of its destinations, for travel between January 3 and May 8 next year, though the perennial caveat "seats are limited" applies.
Just how "limited" is limited? An airline spokesman said "tens of thousands" of seats were bing offered in the sale across the AirAsia network.
Malaysian-based AirAsia is selling seats from Melbourne, the Gold Coast or Perth to Kuala Lumpur (KL) from $129. Travellers can book KL to London (Stansted Airport) on the airline from $249 — a total of $378 one-way. The fares include all mandatory taxes and charges.
Fares coming back from London to Australia may not be identical (airport taxes differ) but are similarly low, a spokesman said.
AirAsia has $3 fares available on the routes of KL to other Malaysian destinations, including Langkawi, Kuching and Panang, with $9 and $18 fares to other parts of Asia.
The cheapest fares are for bookings made through AirAsia website only; book by phone and there will be an extra charge of $25.
The move comes as discount airline Tiger Airways vowed to keep driving down domestic air fares while giving Fairfax Media hints into its future expansion plans.
The airline group's chief executive Tony Davis said he is looking at new routes and destinations from Asia and Australian ports that are within the five-hour flying range of its fleet of its 19 Airbus A320s.
The limited flying time means Tiger currently only links Australia with its Singapore hub from Perth.
But speaking to Fairfax Media, Mr Davis suggested other routes linking Australia with Indonesia or Pacific islands such as Fiji and Vanuatu are being studied.
Sticking with the Airbus A320 means further route expansion must be within its five-hour flying range.
"The east coast of Australia to Asia...is not my game plan. My game plan is to use my A320 fleet as efficiently as possible on whatever routes make sense," he said.
New routes could include link Darwin, Brisbane, Broome or the Gold Coast into Indonesia, allowing further connections to Asia, he said.
"Airports like Darwin, like Perth (are) those that can access Asia.
"Brisbane to Indonesia works, Gold Coast to Indonesia, or going east to New Zealand or the Pacific Islands there are opportunities there as well.
"What I'm doing is drawing a circumference around Australia, and saying, 'Where is there within five hours of here?' There's quite a few places.
"But what I'm not interested in doing is buying a different aircraft type to go seven hours."
The simplicity of only having one aircraft type to maintain and train pilots and crew on, Mr Davis says, is at the heart of its low-cost business model.
"Flying the A330, or the (Boeing) 777 or Dreamliner that some of our competitors have chosen to do, you add another set of pilots, another set of engineers, spares, a different aircraft type which you've got to go out and purchase — all of those things add cost and complexity to the operations," he said.
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