It had to happen. You can now fly around the world entirely on low-cost
airlines.
Last week, Zoom Airlines announced it will be launching low-cost flights
between New York and London; and, from July, Oasis Airlines is planning to
start flights from Hong Kong to Oakland, California. Together, these provide
the final links in the cheap-flight chain that now encircles the planet.
Before you throw up your hands in horror at the thought of circumnavigating
the globe Ryanair-style, remember that low-cost needn’t mean no-frills. Most
long-haul low-costs offer free meals and decent in-flight entertainment.
There’s also no scrum for a seat — they’re allocated at check-in. Perhaps
most surprisingly, there’s no scrimping on the seat pitch either — Oasis has
32in in economy, compared with 31in on British Airways.
And most important, they mean you’ll end up with a serious bargain. For
example, you could bag a fantastic trip from London to Hong Kong, San
Francisco, Las Vegas, New York and back to London for an all-in fare of
little more than £500. A similar route would cost at least £1,400 using
British Airways and its chums in the Oneworld alliance.
At first, the £500 round-the-worlder will be limited to a small range of
cities. You’ll fly Oasis Airlines (www.oasishongkong.com)
from Gatwick to Hong Kong for £150 (including taxes), then pay Oasis another
£150 to hop on to Oakland — just across the bay from San Francisco’s main
airport. From there, fly to Las Vegas and then on to New York with JetBlue (www.jetblue.com;
from £125). From New York, it’s back to Gatwick with Zoom (www.flyzoom.com;
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 you’re down to £500.
For now, it’s fiddly to include Australia, but it is possible, particularly 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 (phew). From
there, fly with ATA (www.ata.com)
to San Francisco for £100, and then take the above route back to London via
New York. That epic trip will set you back about £950, all-in.
And this is only the beginning. The low-cost carriers (LCCs) are just getting
into their stride, and the fun will really start in a few more months. Oasis
is already looking beyond Oakland, plotting to link Hong Kong with Chicago,
and then perhaps Los Angeles, Toronto and New York. And in Malaysia, AirAsia
X is ordering new, large aircraft as it eyes up London and Manchester from
its Kuala Lumpur base.
Then there is Kingfisher Airlines in India, the first low-cost to buy the new
long-haul Airbus A380 superjumbo. Strip away space-hogging business-class
seats, and the giant double-deckers can carry a mind-boggling 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 within each region can help you build a
more exciting (and cheaper) holiday. Their branding may sound silly — names
such as One-Two-Go and Mango hardly inspire confidence — but the fares, from
30p one-way from Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi with AirAsia, are pretty
ludicrous, too. Here is our region-by-region guide.
- Unless stated, all sample fares include taxes, surcharges and fees
AUSTRALASIA
The key players: 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, broadsided in a bitter price war. Then, in 2000, Virgin
Blue (www.virginblue.com.au)
took the Branson brand to Oz, setting up alongside Jetstar (www.jetstar.com).
Both now have excellent coverage across Australia, with domestic fares from
just £16. Virgin Blue also flies to the Pacific islands, and Jetstar is
introducing routes into Asia — to Bangkok, Bali, Phuket, and others.
Meanwhile, Skywest (www.skywest.com.au)
is the one to watch on the west coast, hopping from Perth to Broome, saving
you the trouble of the spectacular but flat-tyre-prone Gibb River Road.
Between Australia and New Zealand, Freedom Air (www.freedomair.co.nz)
crisscrosses the Tasman Sea with some very cheap flights — from just £66
one-way. It is now in fierce competition with Jetconnect (book through www.qantas.co.nz)
and Jetstar. The best plan: use an open-jaw ticket to get to and from
Australia or New Zealand, then hop about for peanuts using the LCCs. Plan a
side-trip from Sydney to an exotic Pacific island — perhaps Fiji, Tonga or
Samoa — from about £200 return. And it pays to be creative when crossing the
Tasman: instead of flying from Sydney to Auckland, consider more unusual
routes, such as Brisbane to Christchurch or Melbourne to Dunedin, which can
be cheaper and increase your options for exploring.
INDIA
The key players: 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. Good
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 by ordering 100 new Airbuses.
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 before long.
Later this year, Sri Lanka will get its first pair of low-cost carriers, Mihin
Air (www.mihinlanka.com)
and Holiday Air (www.holidayair.lk).
You can then bypass the Sri Lankan full-frills bottleneck by bagging a
cheaper flight to India, then hopping over to the island low-cost. The best
plan: you can now tour the Golden Triangle cities, Delhi to Agra to Jaipur,
then dodge the dusty six-hour drive back to Delhi by flying to the tropical
beaches of Goa — one-way fares from Jaipur start from £30 with Kingfisher,
Air Deccan or SpiceJet. Or catch a charter to Goa (Thomsonfly has returns
from just £299 from Birmingham, 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, nonstop from Calcutta or Chennai (Madras).
THE FAR EAST
The key players: Singapore’s first LCCs launched in 2004, and immediately
began buying planes and 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 the tropical islands of Penang
and Langkawi. It is now expanding fast, setting up bases in neighbouring
countries: Bangkok to Hanoi starts from £25 one-way.
Thailand’s Nok Air (www.nokair.com)
also has a burgeoning network from Bangkok — one-way fares to Chiang Mai
start from £20. Pacific Airlines (www.pacific airlines.com.vn) of Vietnam is
currently restructuring itself to become a low-cost carrier too.
For the time being, steer clear of Indonesia’s Adam Air — blighted by a series
of crashes and corruption scandals. For domestic hops in Indonesia, stick
with AirAsia or Lion Air (www.lionair.co.id),
which have fares from Jakarta to Bali from £15 one-way. The best plan: the
region’s route networks are so dense that you can pretty much join up
whichever cities you like. AirAsia offers Ryanair-style giveaway fares —
pretax one-way flights from just 30p. Get online and start plotting, but my
first aim would be to fly to Kuala Lumpur and use the airline to sample
exotic Borneo.
With open-jaw tickets from the UK, it’s also a cinch to save money and
double up on your destinations — by buying a low-cost linking flight from,
say, Singapore to Hong Kong.
NORTH AMERICA
The key players: Southwest Airlines (www.southwest.com)
started the entire no-frills revolution in 1971, and now has almost 500
aircraft. Dozens of airlines have followed its lead, flying to all parts of
the USA, down to Mexico and into the Caribbean. Meanwhile, both Southwest
and JetBlue (www.jetblue.com)
have been noisily pioneering “low-cost with frills” — they have great
seat-back live TV screens.
In Canada, both Tango and Zip have folded, but WestJet (www.westjet.com)
serves 24 cities, and flies to the States, too.
Mexico got its first low-cost carrier last year, prompted by the government
sell-off of state-owned Mexicana. There are now more than a dozen copycats,
the best of which are Aviacsa (www.aviacsa.com)
and Aero California (www.aero
california.com) — both have good English-language websites. The best
plan: with more than 20 US cities now served by nonstop flights from the UK,
it’s an open-jaw paradise, offering endless possibilities for multicentre
trips, and chill-out add-ons in the Caribbean or Mexico. Flights from New
York or Boston to the Turks and Caicos Islands, for example, cost from £75
one-way with Spirit Air (www.spiritair.com).
Or you could fly to Phoenix with British Airways (www.ba.com)
and hop on to San Francisco and Los Angeles, flying home from Phoenix again.
That triangle of domestic flights will only set you back about £120 with
Southwest.
If you are thinking about adding Hawaii to your West Coast trip, Go (www.iflygo.com)
hops between the Hawaiian islands from £20 one-way, and ATA (www.ata.com)
will get you there from several mainland airports, including Oakland and
Phoenix (from £140 return).
In Mexico, get a cheap charter to Cancun (Charter Flights — 0845 045 0153, www.charterflights.co.uk
— has fares from £300), then jet off to explore the Spanish colonial towns
and mountains of Oaxaca with Click Mexicana (www.clickmx.com;
from about £80 return). It’s simple to combine Mexico with the States, too,
with USA3000 Airlines (www.usa
3000.com) and Frontier Airlines (www.frontierairlines.com)
operating dozens of routes from Florida, the northeast and California down
to the Mexican rivieras, from as little as £100 return.
SOUTH AMERICA
The key players: until now, low-costs 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 ever since. It now also 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 large and expanding networks.
The best plan: book a Thomsonfly (www.thomsonfly.com)
charter from Gatwick to Natal, in Brazil’s northeast, then plug into Gol’s
vast network to explore the Amazon region, visit the Iguaçu Falls and drop
in on Rio. Natal to Rio starts from £50 one-way. Or get an open-jaw ticket
in to Lima and back from Rio, and use Gol to travel in-between.
AFRICA
The key players: as with full-frills airlines, 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),
which means “it’s easy” in Zulu, was first on the scene and is continuing to
expand across southern Africa. 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.
Look out, too, for the fledgling Fly540 (www.fly540.com)
in Kenya. Not strictly low-cost, and operating prop planes for now, it
already flies from Nairobi to Mombasa from about £40 one-way and has big
plans for the future. The best plan: the LCCs can be a godsend if you can’t
find a seat to Cape Town in peak season. Simply get yourself to
Johannesburg, which is often a good deal cheaper anyway, and then hop to
Cape Town on Kulula (from £36 one-way). Or, if you’re planning to do the
Garden Route, ditch the car in the town of George and fly on to Jo’burg for
just £25.
If you have mastered the art of open-jaw flying, consider a safari-and-surf
double-header, flying into Jo’burg and then hopping to Mauritius with Kulula
from £130, then home directly from the island.
THE MIDDLE EAST
The key players: the Middle East has been slow to catch on to the cheap-flight
phenomenon, so while Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways are powering away
with all the frills they can muster, 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, just a few miles up the coast from Dubai, 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. The best plan: grab a cheap flight to Dubai —
it’s a route the full-frills Gulf carriers are extremely competitive on from
the UK, then hop away with Air Arabia to Sri Lanka, Kathmandu, Cochin,
Mumbai, Trivandrum, Chennai and even Jaipur, from only £83 return. Or you
could use an EasyJet flight to Istanbul, then an Air Arabia flight on to
Dubai — it’s even cheaper, and you’ll get a bonus few days in Istanbul (all
four flights there and back would cost as little as £185). And if even that
isn’t adventurous enough, combine it with onward flights to Yemen, Nepal, or
Central Asia, with fares to San’a from £120 return.
