Discount airlines in Australasia
This article is a travel topic.
This is one of several Wikitravel articles about Discount airlines.
Finding Discount airlines in Australasia may prove both easy and difficult at the same time! Many years of deregulation in the New Zealand airline market and collapse of the Australian duopoly following the demise of Ansett has seen such cut-throat competition on some routes that only the airlines offering discount have survived. Apart from primarily scenic flights in light aircraft, all major carriers offer discounts on their seats on most routes. Some carriers specialise in providing low cost, no frills, travel between tourist and other destinations.
See the information on each countries page -- Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea -- for coverage of airlines in Australasia (including the discount ones).
Culture and History
The Australasian airline market is noted for its competition and has seen the collapse of a number of airlines. Perhaps the most spectacular was that of Ansett, which nearly caused the collapse of its owner, Air New Zealand. Since then Air New Zealand has reworked itself as a discount airline on domestic and short haul international routes, while Virgin Blue has taken on the dominant carrier, Qantas, in Australia, and also started a Trans-Tasman service ('Pacific Blue'). As a consequence, there is no one airline that provides a clear discount over any other. Travelers will need to shop around and may find they need to use two, or more, airlines to get the best deals.
Long-haul
In November 2006, Jetstar International started long-haul flights from Australia to various points in Asia, including Bangkok and Phuket in Thailand as well as Osaka in Japan. Booking are being accepted now. Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) to Sydney is now available for bookings. On 27 December 2006 Jetstar commenced flying to Hawaii.
Tiger Airways is a Singapore carrier [1] and now operates out of Australia from Darwin and Perth, and the prices are cheap. Problem is, exit taxes and fees leaving Australia add about A$160.00 to most fares.
Air Asia will be starting flights in late 2007 between Melbourne (Avalon Airport) and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
Domestic Short Haul
Tiger Airways today (9th July 2007) announced three new domestic routes (three daily services between Gold Coast [2] and Melbourne, Melbourne to Mackay and Melbourne to Rockhampton) and over half a million low fares seats.
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