Low cost around the world

A report by a UK reporter Richard Green in the Calcutta Telegraph has revealed that with low cost airlines now crossing the Pacific, for the first time travellers can circumnavigate the world with low cost airlines.

Richard reports that at first, the £500 round-the-worlder will be limited to a small range of cities, but will become easier very quickly

He is suggesting that you’ll fly Oasis Airlines (www.oasishongkong.com) from Gatwick to Hong Kong for £150, then pay another £150 to hop on to Oakland.

From there, fly to Las Vegas and then on to New York with JetBlue (www.jetblue.com; fares start from £125).

From New York, it’s back to Gatwick with Zoom (www.flyzoom.com; fares start from £129).

That trip comes in at about £550, but cut out Vegas — or fly back via Toronto instead of New York, using WestJet (www.westjet.com) — and it’s only £500.

He admits that for now it’s fiddly to include Australia, but if you’ve got a bit of time on your hands, fly Oasis to Hong Kong, then Jetstar (www.jetstar.com)  from Hong Kong to Singapore, to Cairns, to Sydney, to Honolulu.

Then fly with ATA (www.ata.com) to San Francisco for £100, and then take the above route back to London via NY with that will setting you back about £950.

And this is only the beginning…………….

The low-cost carriers (LCCs) are getting into their stride, and the fun will start in a few months.

Oasis is looking beyond Oakland, plotting to link Hong Kong with Chicago, and perhaps Los Angeles, Toronto and New York.

In Malaysia, AirAsia X is ordering new aircraft, as it eyes London and Manchester.

Then there is Kingfisher Airlines in India, the first low-coster to buy the new long-haul Airbus A380 superjumbo………….strip away space-hogging business-class seats, and the giant double-deckers can carry 800 economy-class passengers — a sure-fire recipe for tumbling long-haul fares.

Even if you aren’t going to Phileas Fogg it around the planet, it’s still worth knowing how the low-costers can help you build a cheaper holiday and here is his very interesting region-by-region guide: (Unless stated, all sample fares include taxes, surcharges and fees).

AUSTRALASIA

The first brave attempt at a cheap-fare challenge to the dastardly duopoly of Qantas and Ansett came from Compass, launched in 1990.

It soon collapsed in a bitter price war, but in 2000, Virgin Blue (www.virginblue.com.au) took the Branson brand to Oz, setting up alongside Jetstar (www.jetstar.com).

Both have excellent coverage across Australia, with domestic fares at £16.

Virgin also flies to the Pacific islands, and Jetstar is introducing routes into Asia.

Meanwhile, Skywest (www.skywest.com.au) is the one to watch on the west coast.

Between Australia and New Zealand, Freedom Air (www.freedomair.co.nz) has cheap flights — from just £66 one-way and it is in fierce competition with Jetconnect (book through www.qantas.co.nz) and Jetstar.

The best plan is to use an open-jaw ticket to get to and from Australia or New Zealand and plan a side-trip from Sydney to an exotic Pacific island from about £200 return.

And it pays to be creative when crossing the Tasman, by instead of flying from Sydney to Auckland, consider unusual routes, such as Brisbane to Christchurch.

INDIA

Launched in 2003, India’s first LCC was Air Deccan (www.flyairdeccan.net), and its early success in undercutting high domestic fares and cutting out the byzantine fare rules has inspired more than a dozen imitators.

Carriers to look out for include SpiceJet (www.spicejet.com), GoAir (www.goair.in), and IndiGo Airlines (www.goindigo.in) — the last of which has rattled the competition and thrilled Indian bargain-hunters.

You can fly no-frills to more than 50 Indian destinations, but it is Kingfisher (www.flykingfisher.com)  that has pioneered seat-back TVs and put in an order for Airbus A380 superjumbos.  Expect its white-suited chairman and beer-label livery to appear in London soon.

Later this year, Sri Lanka will get its first pair of low-cost carriers, Mihin Air (www.mihinlanka.com) Holiday Air (www.holidayair.lk) and you can then bypass the Sri Lankan bottleneck by bagging a cheaper flight to India, then hopping over to the island low-cost.

Best plan: you can tour the Golden Triangle cities, Delhi to Agra to Jaipur, then dodge the dusty drive to Delhi by flying to Goa — one-way fares from Jaipur start from £30 with Kingfisher or SpiceJet.

Or catch a charter to Goa (Thomsonfly has returns from just £299 from Manchester or Gatwick), and use LCCs to hop from there to the southern temple cities or the northern Mogul towns.

Another option is to use Air Deccan to link a trip to Darjeeling and the eastern Himalayas with the Andaman Islands — the connection costs as little as £200, non-stop from Calcutta or Chennai.

THE FAR EAST

Singapore’s first LCCs launched in 2004, and began slashing fares right across the region.

The main players now are Tiger Airways (www.tigerairways.com) and Jetstar Asia Airways (www.jetstarasia.com).

Across the border in Malaysia, AirAsia (www.airasia.com) has brought super-cheap flying to Borneo and Penang and Langkawi.

Thailand’s Nok Air (www.nokair.com) also has a burgeoning network from Bangkok, with one-way fares to Chiang Mai starting from £20.

Pacific Airlines (www.pacificairlines.com.vn), Vietnam, is restructuring itself to become a low-cost carrier too. The region’s route networks are so dense that you can pretty much join up whichever cities you like.

NORTH AMERICA

Southwest Airlines (www.southwest.com) started the entire no-frills revolution in 1971. Dozens of airlines have followed its lead, flying to all parts of the USA, down to Mexico and into the Caribbean. Meanwhile, Southwest and JetBlue (www.jetblue.com) have been noisily pioneering “low-cost with frills”.

In Canada, both Tango and Zip have folded, but WestJet (www.westjet.com) serves 24 cities, and flies to the States.

Mexico got its first low-cost carrier last year, prompted by the government sell-off of Mexicana. There are now more than a dozen copycats, the best of which are Aviacsa (www.aviacsa.com) and Aero California (www.aerocalifornia.com) — both have good English-language websites.

SOUTH AMERICA

Until now, LCCs have only taken root in Brazil, but they still provide some useful links. Gol (www.voegol.com.br) started in 2001, and has been growing. It now flies internationally to Santiago, Buenos Aires, Lima and Panama City.

BRA (www.voebra.com.br) and Ocean Air (www.oceanair.com.br) are other Brazilian options with expanding networks.

AFRICA

The picture in Africa is patchy at best, but still useful. So far, only South Africa has home-grown LCCs operating domestic flights. Kulula (www.kulula.com), “it’s easy” in Zulu, was first on the scene.

Usefully, it flies into Nelspruit, for the Kruger National Park, and to Mauritius, from Johannesburg. South African Airways has just responded to Kulula by launching Mango (www.flymango.com), and it is rumoured to be soaking up huge government subsidies — which means you can get one-way fares from just £12.

THE MIDDLE EAST

The Middle East has been slow to catch on to the cheap-flight phenomenon, while Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways are powering away. Air Arabia (www.airarabia.com) cuts a lonely figure as the Gulf’s first low-cost carrier. It is based in the tiny emirate of Sharjah, and flies to 17 cities in the region, with prices for short hops from £28.

But Jazeera Airways (www.jazeeraairways.com) has started flights from Kuwait and Dubai to India and Egypt, and other start-ups are in the pipeline.

An amazing catalogue of global LCC’s – the changing face of global aviation!

A Report by The Mole