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[zachweb]

Budget carrier Thai AirAsia offers 49-cent fare to Bangkok

Travellers can now fly to Bangkok and back for less than one dollar as the price war among budget carriers heats up.

Thai AirAsia, the sister of Malaysia's AirAsia, is offering one-way air tickets between Singapore and Bangkok for just 49 cents, or a return fare of less than a dollar.


The budget carrier is promoting the low fare just a week after rival Tiger Airway's offered $2 return fares to Bangkok.

Tickets can be bought from the airline's website from Thursday.

The fine-print: bookings must be made 5 days in advance and the rock-bottom fares are only available for one month from September 15th.

The airline has promised to set aside at least 5,000 seats at these rock-bottom prices over the 1 month.

Air Asia, however, refused to say if its latest promotion is a tit-for-tat response to Tiger's $2 fares along the same route.

But it is not the only airline that is slashing fares.

SilkAir has also lowered fares to Phuket - it is offering 900 return tickets at just $88 each till the end of October.

This rivals Tiger's offer of between $80 to $280.

While analysts are predicting that there will be at least one casualty in this dogfight among budget carriers, the passengers will be the beneficiaries with lowered prices and special promotions.

Susan Teng, Outbound Travel, NATAS, said: "I believe it will go on for a while more until they find their own place."

In fact, travel agents say fares to other regional destinations which are not yet served by budget carriers are also dropping.

Alicia Seah, Assistant General Manager, SA UIC Tours, said "Traditionally, destinations such as China that are not covered by budget carriers at this juncture - full service airlines that service these destinations have also lowered their airfares to compete destination-wise. Nowadays passengers are swayed to travel impulsively to Hong Kong and Bangkok in view of the pricing and so destinations like China and Chinese carriers have also lowered their airfares to compete destination wise."

Travel agents say that air fares to destinations like China and even South Korea have dropping by as much as 30 percent. - CNA

[zachweb]

AirAsia, SilkAir slash Thai fares

Thai AirAsia and SilkAir both fired shots in the regional airfare price war yesterday by offering packages aimed at taking customers away from Tiger Airways, the newest entrant to the budget aviation industry.

Bangkok-based Thai AirAsia said yesterday that it would offer 5,000 seats between Singapore and Bangkok at the one-way price of 49 cents, two days after Streats first reported its plans to price fares under $1.

Full-service regional carrier SilkAir, which will compete with Tiger on the Phuket route, yesterday offered to sell 900 seats to Phuket for a return fare of $88. This is only slightly higher than Tiger’s next tier return fare of $80.

The latest round of price-cutting is seen as a bid to steal the thunder from Tiger Airways in the build-up to its launch on Sept 15. Last week, Tiger grabbed headlines by selling 3,000 tickets at $1.

Thai AirAsia’s 49-cent offer to Bangkok is available only for online bookings made five days in advance, for travel between Sept 15 and Oct 15 – three weeks longer than Tiger’s one-week offer.

SilkAir’s $88 return fare to Phuket is for travel between Sept 9 and Oct 31, and must be made five days before departure, but bookings can be made through travel agents as well as online.

Said Thai AirAsia CEO Tassapon Bijleveld: “Special offers and low fares are something fundamental to AirAsia. At 49 cents, or 11 baht, one-way, we’re offering one of the lowest airfares in the market.”

SilkAir, which is positioned as the regional leisure travel arm of Singapore Airlines, is also offering $130 return fares to Krabi and $160 return fares to Chiang Mai. All fares exclude taxes and surcharges.

SilkAir CEO Mike Barclay sought to differentiate SilkAir from no-frills cousin Tiger Airways.

He said: “In addition to low fares, we offer excellent inflight service, hot meals, a full bar service, inflight entertainment, seat assignment and many other extras at no additional cost.”

SilkAir will add more flights to Thailand from Oct 31. It currently operates 22 services to Phuket a week.

[zachweb]

Bangkok flight, hotel stay - for just $49

Online travel agent Zuji has made a splash in the Bangkok budget fares fray by throwing in accommodation too

ONLINE travel agent Zuji has upped the ante in the escalating budget airfare price war.

Travellers keen on Zuji's offer will fly on Tiger Airways and stay in a three-star hotel. Website booking starts on Monday.
It is offering a $49 return flight to Bangkok on Tiger Airways - with a one-night hotel stay thrown in.

Currently, budget fares to Bangkok do not include accommodation.

Zuji's fare will be available from Monday at 9am on its website, Zuji Travel

The company declined to reveal the number of packages it is allocating to this $49 special.

Travellers will get to choose from five three-star hotels and must travel between Sept 23 and 29.

All transactions must be made on a Visa card.

Those who miss out on the $49 deal can opt for alternative packages starting from $88. These also come with one night's accommodation, but the quality of hotels will vary.

Recent weeks have seen airfares to Bangkok plunge to new lows after low-cost carriers AirAsia and Tiger Airways began pricing their one-way tickets at 49 cents and $1, respectively.

Valuair also lowered its return airfare price to $138.

At press time, Valuair's $138 tickets were still available, while AirAsia's 49-cent and Tiger's $1 tickets were sold out.

Zuji's general manager Christina Siaw said the company's latest move is not a response to the price war, but an extension of its commitment to provide special rates to its customers.

It has been offering special airfare prices every Tuesday since June.

For instance, a return ticket to Kuala Lumpur may go for as low as $49 on its website.

When contacted, AirAsia declined to comment on Zuji's offer.

But Mr Nilesh Pritam, manager of public relations at Valuair, said the airline's extra frills, such as assigned seating and meals on board, mean that 'we reach out to a different segment so we don't see ourselves in competition with the budget carriers'.

[zachweb]

Sibu Island - Getaway across the causeway !! -BY daniel_lss (HWZ)

Sibu is an island with beauty juz like tioman... with diving, snorkeling activities !!! not bad huh !!??

Sibu Island Resort (SIR), one of the island resort of International standard with tropical rain forest surroundings and undisturbed beaches. The Sibu group of island consists of Sibu Besar, Sibu Tengah, Sibu Hujung and Sibu Kukus (Coral Island). SIR is located at Sibu Tengah island, east coast of Johor, Malaysia. and comprises of 20 acres in size and surrounded by white sandy beach.
more info on island and accomodation on the island with the below link:

http://www.impression.com.my/Sibu/Sibu.htm
http://www.hotelreservation.com.my/...sibu/sibu01.htm
http://www.myoutdoor.com/sir/
http://www.jcorp.com.my/sibu.html

Tour Agencies for the Sibu Isle:
Spore: http://www.halijah.com.sg/tours/itinerary/...U%20Island.doc
http://www.j3travel.com/FE_211_Sibu%20Island.htm

JB: http://www.visitormalaysia.com/Asia...island-tour.htm

[zachweb]

$19.99 to fly from S'pore to Jakarta

AIRASIA'S sister budget carrier Awair will begin daily flights between Singapore and Jakarta from Jan 19.

Starting yesterday, seats at a special promotional fare of $19.99 (one way) are on sale till Jan 18, for travel until March 26.

The new flights 'will serve to enhance our connectivity to bring people together, while trade and tourism prosper between Indonesia and Singapore', the Malaysia-based AirAsia said yesterday in a statement.

Asia's only major listed budget airline, it has a 49 per cent stake in Awair, a privately owned carrier in Indonesia that was formerly defunct.
Singapore is Awair's first international destination since its relaunch last month.Awair will also introduce two new domestic services from Jakarta to Bali, and to Surabaya in Java, on Sunday. It already flies to Medan in Sumatra, and Balikpapan in Borneo, from Jakarta.

Tickets can be bought at HERE, at its sales offices in Changi Airport Terminal One and at Peninsula Plaza in North Bridge Road, or by calling 6733-9933.

[zachweb]

Tiger Airways offers $9.98 promotional fares to 10 destinations


It is offering rock bottom fares of $9.98 one-way to all the 10 cities it is flying to.

From places like Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket to new destinations like Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Macau and Manila.
Bookings have to be made online from Monday to Friday.

The special offers are only for mid-week travel from Mondays to Thursday and the travel period is from July to October.

[zachweb]

Budget carrier Tiger Airways to fly to China from April FROM CNA

(Posted Image)

SINGAPORE : Singapore low-fare carrier Tiger Airways said Friday it will start flights to cities in Southern China in April, giving it a foothold in the giant Chinese market.

"Tiger Airways confirms that it has received approval from the Chinese aviation authorities to fly to a number of cities in Southern China," the carrier said in a statement.

Flights will start in April after the carrier, which is 49 percent owned by Singapore Airlines, takes delivery of two more Airbus A320 planes.

"This marks a new phase in the expansion plans of Tiger Airways as China is a huge market and has many popular business and tourist destinations," it said.

Details about the destinations and air fares will be announced shortly, the airline said.

Tiger Airways chief executive Tony Davis said the airline is currently negotiating with some of the airports it intends to fly to.

"We think we'll add at least two or three destinations in Southern China," Davis said on NewsRadio 93.8.

Tiger Airways offers low-fare flights from Singapore to key cities in Thailand, Vietnam, Macau, the Philippines, Australia and Indonesia. - AFP