SIA: Why we couldn’t resist low cost
While Qantas chief Alan Joyce was playing down the impact of plans by Singapore Airlines to launch a low-cost, long haul airline – saying it was “the best form of flattery†– SIA has been talking up the potential its new airline.
Joyce, speaking at the International Air Transport Association (IATA) forum in Singapore, said the proposal reflected the SIA’s desire to replicate Qantas’s success at establishing its own low-cost long-haul operations with Jetstar.
SIA’s Choon Phong Goh said the low-cost long haul market had huge potential.
“If you just look at the low-cost carrier traffic in Asia-Pacific, we are talking about a market share of 15 to 16 percent, but in Europe and America we are talking about a market share of about 30 percent, so it is relatively speaking still at a growth stage.
“The long-haul – low-cost (segment) is relatively untapped up to this point. We felt that it’s a market with a very strong growth potential and we’d like to be in it.”
Goh said the new budget airline would require “a different mindset†from the current SIA operation and therefore it would be operated independently.
Ian Jarrett
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