Singapore Airlines, other Asian carriers come up with heavy discounts

Airlines based in Asia are offering low-priced tickets during the summer holidays even as the global economic slowdown continues.

Singapore Airlines, the national airline of Singapore, has announced that it will offer discounts ranging from 25% to 50% for advance bookings.

The carrier is giving all-inclusive Economy Class return tickets from 7 cities in India – Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi – to Singapore for Rs 21,005.

The all-inclusive return tickets to Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok or Hong Kong will be priced at Rs 22,005.
Singapore Airlines’ return tickets to cities in Australia – Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth – cost between Rs 42,750 and Rs 43,460.

The all-inclusive price to Los Angeles or San Francisco in the United States will cost Rs 55,045.
The offers to destinations in South-east Asia and the United States are open for sale up to March 16, 2009, and for Australia, up to April 15, 2009, C W Foo, general manager (India), Singapore Airlines, said in a statement. The price, the airline said, is per person in Economy Class for travel out of India till July 31, 2009. The offers for Australia are valid up to June 30, 2009.  Tiger Airways, based in Singapore and 49% owned by Singapore Airlines, has declared that it will launch discounted summer fares.

In a statement, Tiger Airways – which flies to destinations in South-east Asia, Australia and China – said it would offer its “biggest-ever network of seats” and also was adding new destinations for its summer schedule from March 29, 2009, to October 24, 2009.

Rosalynn Tay, managing director for Tiger Airways, said in the statement that the airline would demonstrate that it would continue to grow its business “even in these difficult trading conditions.”

Jetstar Asia, another low-coat airline based in Singapore, has extended its promotion scheme until August 16, 2009.

According to Jetstar Asia’s promotion plan, if a traveller finds another published online fare cheaper than the lowest available fare on the website www.jetstar.com, Jetstar “will beat the price by 10% if the customer makes an instant reservation over telephone.”

AirAsia, the budget airline based in Malaysia, is offering a one-way flight from Singapore to Bangkok starting from $43, inclusive of taxes, for travel from March 23, 2009, to September 11, 2009.

The website of AirAsia says that AirAsia is offering a number of tickets starting from 26 cents for travel within Malaysia.

Lion Air, based in Indonesia, is selling a one-way trip from Singapore to Bali for just $5.80 for travel from June 1, 2009, to September 30, 2009, according to the carrier’s website.

Nok Air, of Thailand, on its part, has come up with one-way fares for as low as 25 cents, excluding taxes.