Maneuvers on the Australian Aviation Chess Board: Singapore Airlines Turns Heat on Qantas

It was when Qantas Airlines of Australia declared a potential alliance with the Emirates Airlines of Dubai that the turbulence was caused in the lucrative Asia-Pacific aviation markets. The importance and impact of such a deal could not have taken the other major players much time from making strategic moves to bolster their position in the Australian aviation market. And, the observers were not disappointed. The Singapore Airlines has picked up a stake of 10 percent in Virgin Australia in a deal of AUD 105 million.

Virgin Australia is the main domestic competitor of Qantas in the Australian market and in order to protect the regional interests in aviation, Singapore Airlines has decided to firm up the Virgin positions in the domestic aviation market of Australia. It is worth noting that Singapore Airlines itself has its own LCC Tiger Airways in Australia which aims to provide the cheapest air tickets to the passengers. However, Singapore Airlines has chosen to expand the Tiger’s fleet by firming up the hands of Virgin, the main competitor providing the cheap flights to the passengers. Virgin has, in the same measure, announced acquisition of 60 percent stake of Tiger Airways. It also plans to further strengthen its hold in the regional aviation markets by acquiring Skywest, the regional operator.

The biggest beneficiary of these maneuvers will be Virgin Australia which will consolidate its position in the region and be able to fulfill its cherished wish of becoming the airline of choice in the region. 

How to save fuel in flight for offering cheapest air tickets?

There has always been a concern for providing the cheapest air tickets to the passengers. For this purpose, the aircraft manufactures try to develop the airplanes using the latest technology which can economize on the use of fuel. Similarly, the airlines try to economize on the fuel by conserving it by adopting all such ways and means which can result in fuel saving such as by cutting down on speed of flying, flying with the winds in upper atmosphere and in such a way that ensures that there is less drag on the airplane.

The cutting down on the speed of flight draws the analogy from the car driving. The more is the speed by acceleration, the more is the consumption of fuel and that too with higher inefficiency. At the same time, if the speed slows down too much then there might still not be efficiency in fuel consumption. Therefore, by flying at a little less than the average speed for travel and tolerating a little more flight time, the airlines can manage to save hundreds of millions of dollars of aviation fuel on an annual basis. There have been many such trial runs of the airlines where the airplanes have flown on a little less than their average speeds and have tried flying at consistent speed throughout their journeys. This resulted in their reaching a few minutes late on each flight but the savings of fuel on annual basis has been phenomenal.

Besides reducing the speed of the aircraft, the other methods of saving fuel in the flight and providing cheap flights is by way of flying in formation to reduce the air drag or by way of These actually turned into profits for the airline and the same could even be passed wholly or partly as cheap flights tickets for the passengers. 

IATA Reports Decline In Premium Segment Travel, Booking Of Cheapest Air Tickets Rises

Premium segment travel is widely taken to be the non-economy class travel on the full service providers. Besides this, it does not include passengers travelling on the low cost carriers. So, all the first or business class travelers come under this category of flyer segment. The latest IATA report has confirmed a decline in the premium class travel on airlines. Though this has been attributed to the recessionary tendencies in the world economy since 2008 from which the businesses worldwide have not recovered fully, the recent crisis in European economies has also contributed significantly to decline in the business and first class travelers. The market is down by about 8 percent from the 2008 levels. People are now more inclined to buying the cheapest air tickets.

It is noteworthy that the markets in North America and Europe contribute a big proportion of the global premium segment flyers, about 40 percent of total premium segment of world and 34 percent by revenues. With corporate bodies downgrading the air travel of their employees to economy class and even the business travelers also doing air ticket booking for economy class travel, the crunch is premium segment is expected to hit the full service carriers as this segment is pivotal to best yield management practices.

If this trend continues and the airlines keep on generating less revenue, there could be a rethink on the part of airlines to offer different classes of travel. This trend is also being witnessed in India where the full services carriers are facing difficulty in having profitable operations whereas the LCCs have garnered most of the domestic market share. The dip in premium class travel is also being witnessed in India as more people prefer to save on air ticket booking by travelling economy. 

iPads replace TVs- A smart move towards more fuel economy

Fuel is a major concern for any airline since it accounts for roughly 40 percent of the operational costs. For this reason, airlines strive to adopt an operational methodology which is as fuel efficient as possible. Being fuel efficient makes it possible for the airlines to meet the demand of cheapest air tickets from the customers. Reducing the weight of the aircraft, either by using light weight but robust materials in its manufacture or by careful selection of the in-flight fitments, airlines strive to achieve maximum fuel economy.  A recent smart move by one of the budget airline to make use of the iPads instead of the LCD or LED TV screens is further aimed at reducing the weight of in-flight fitments for more economical operations by saving more fuel. Interestingly, the airline was able to cut the weight of aircraft by about 7 percent even after adding 40 percent more seating capacity. 

The use of iPads, which would be loaded with the music, videos, games and other multimedia products, will help airlines in two specific ways. While it will help improve the fuel economy since total weight of TVs amounting to tons of kilograms would be shed, it is also going to help the airlines raise crucial add-on revenue by way of charging a fee for its usage. So, while the flight tickets would be cheaper, it will also rake in more revenue for airline. Since iPads are quite popular among the people, these are likely to see good demand in the flight as an entertainment device.

With increasing aviation fuel prices, it is becoming increasingly incumbent upon the airlines to devise innovative measures of achieving operational efficiency. With demand for cheap international flights also increasing and many low-cost carriers seeking entry into new markets using their USP of providing low cost international flights, smart moves like the one of replacing the TVs with iPads would save more fuel, enable operation of longer haul flights and generate more revenues. 

Bio-fuel and Solar Energy based cheap flights: The Future of Aviation

Aviation is undergoing fundamental transformation in the wake of increasing concerns for environment and developing feasible commercial alternatives. The recent, trans-continental flight of a solar powered plane and some experimental flights using bio-fuel as an alternative indicate that the future of aviation will be powered by alternative fuels which are eco-friendly and sustainable. For the consumers this would usher in an age of cheapest air tickets where the proportion of fuel cost is reduced to insignificant levels.

The maiden flight of solar powered plane might still be far off from commercial use but it has been demonstrated that airplanes can be flown day and night on solar power.  The solar airplane made use of about 12000 solar cells on its dragonfly-like wings to power the flight which operated day and night. This means that the price element of fuel will be replaced with that of the depreciation of the capital investment done on the solar cells and their maintenance. However, this experimental flight is not being considered as a precursor to cheap flights of future on a commercial scale since the present flight was on a single seat plane and the aircraft weight was about that of a family car. Commercial planes are of altogether different dimensions in size. But, it did amply demonstrate that day and night flights are possible on solar power.

Bio-fuels, on the other hand, are the only feasible and sustainable alternatives at present which can be used for commercial purpose. There have been many experimental flights using this fuel type. However, these would require large tracts of lands for growing the plants which provide bio-fuel. With EU bringing aviation sector within the emissions trading program, there is a likelihood of making a shift towards using bio-fuels. Though marked reduction in the prices of flight tickets might still not be possible due to less usage of these fuels initially, the costs of tickets are expected to go down after attaining optimal levels of usage. 

Cheapest air tickets pitted against refunding facility

There are no universal principles to be applied in different aviation markets of the world. What could lead to profits for airlines in one market might not be beneficial for airlines in a different market. It has been widely accepted that the best way for the growth of airlines, budget or full service, is by of offering cheapest air tickets. Low fares have led to the opening of new markets and generate more business for airlines. The facility of getting the refunds for cancellations along with the low airfares has worked well in most of the markets of the world as the consumer has intended to travel more often on the scheduled time. But, in certain other markets of the world, cheapest air tickets along with the facility of refunds has resulted in airlines going into losses.

The Russian aviation market is one example where the issue of refunding of tickets after flight booking has pitted the airlines against the Federal Anti-monopoly Service (FAS). Airlines question the wisdom of offering refunds low fare flight booking is being offered to the customers. The low cost carriers of Russia contend that the refunds facility needs to be done away with in order to remain profitable in the Russian market.

Since FAS sought mandatory refunding facility by airlines, even the prices of low-cost airline tickets has not remained low since the airlines do have to factor in refunds in ticket pricing. The airlines have also resorted to over flight booking hoping that some passengers might not show up. Many experts believe that the low cost carrier model has not worked fully due to this issue. By allowing non-refundable cheapest air tickets, airlines can mark their prices down further and do not allow overbooking to protect against having a negative brand image. 

Why use fare comparison websites for finding cheapest air tickets?

There are three internet-based resources which can help you in looking for the cheapest air tickets. These three resources are the websites of the airline companies, the travel agencies and the airfare comparison website. The last ones are also called the aggregators as these take the data from the airlines and agencies and make available all the flight information including their prices to the customers. The fare comparing sites are helpful in more than one ways to people looking for cheap air tickets.

Reduces the number of searches

Air tickets price comparison sites make it possible for you to be at a single resource and get the required details from a number of sources. If it were not for these sites, you would require visiting websites of the airlines and the travel agencies and make efforts to note fare prices and then compare these. All this is done for you by these websites which are integrated with different airlines and agencies to show their flights and prices information when a user makes searches for a particular flight. So, it does save a lot of time and effort which would have otherwise been expanded in doing searches on a number of websites.

Multiple product comparisons

It is not just the cheap air tickets, but also hotels and car rentals which can be compared and booked right away. The different products or services can be bought from different providers after ascertaining who is offering best deals.  So, you need not remain hooked to one provider and book all products from it. Rather, you have greater flexibility with respect to choosing products from more than one provider.

When you are using fare-comparing websites for making searches, you need to ensure that the website makes use of only the credible service providers, be it the travel agencies or the airlines.