Low cost or budget airlines eased leisure traveling for individuals with tight budget (like me). Gone are the days when travelers are forced to endure the not-so friendly airfare rate of major airline companies. The era of expensive travel was ended by the advent of budget airlines. Frequently, budget airlines offer awesome discount that a travel aficionado can’t help it but abruptly plan a trip.
My recent out of the country and out of Luzon travels were made possible by generous discounts of leading budget airlines (and through the generosity of my parents and sponsors). It is also noteworthy that my first air travel was through a budget airline—Tiger Airways.
Many travel maniacs right are now shouting “Long Live Budget Airlines”.
The budget airlines I have dealt with in my previous travels are as follows:
Tiger Airways
Tiger Airways can claim to be the pioneer budget airline in the Philippine region. The airline caters passenger from Diosdado Macapagal International Airport and offers direct flights from the airport to international destinations such as Macau and Singapore.
The airline’s main hub is located in Singapore. From Singapore, the airline flies to destinations such as Darwin (Australia), Perth (Australia), Bangkok (Thailand), Phuket (Thailand), Chang Mai (Thailand), Hanoi (Vietnam), Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Padang (Indonesia), Guangzou (China), Bangalore (India) and other key destinations in the South East Asian region.
If a Filipino traveler would like to have a cost effective trip to Australia, he may take his trip from Clark with a stop in Singapore then to Darwin, Australia. The overall cost of the trip is much cheaper compared to taking a direct flight to Australia via a major airline carrier.
I booked a flight with Tiger during my trip to Macau, China. Overall, I was satisfied with the experience. The round trip airfare is P2,800.00, an amazingly affordable rate. The cost of the ticket is only P800.00 more compared to airport fees and travel taxes charged by the government.
Cebu Pac is relatively new in the low cost airline business though it has been around as a secondary flag carrier of the Philippines since 1996. Today the airline operates 27 domestic destinations and 15 international destinations. The airline takes pride in having the youngest fleet of aircrafts in terms of years of service in the Philippines. Cebu Pac has somehow forced its major competitor in the domestic field, Philippines Airlines to launch a subsidiary airline, PAL Express which offers affordable rates to domestic travelers. It is also the first airline to operate in the newly built Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3.
Cebu Pac has major operations at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), Cebu Mactan International Airport (Mactan) and Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA). It now offers flights to Shanghai, China (from NAIA); Osaka, Japan (from NAIA); Taipei, Taiwan (from NAIA) Seoul and Busan, South Korea (from NAIA), Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam (from NAIA); Bangkok, Thailand (from NAIA and DMIA) and many other international and domestic routes.
The airline is famous for its onboard short games wherein flight attendants facilitate games where passengers can win souvenirs. I had Cebu Pac as my airline for my first ever trip to Cebu (in the Visayas), and Dipolog City and Dakak (in Mindanao). The round trip airfares for both travel are as well amazingly cheap—P2,700 for Cebu and P5,900 for Dipolog.
Air Asia
The airline is the pioneer of low cost travelling in Asia. It has the largest fleet and most number of destinations among all the budget airlines in Asia. It is the first ever airline to have stopped collecting fuel surcharges from its passengers which is added to the total cost of the airfare. The airline runs 200+ flights per day in over 75 domestic and international destinations. It operates in Southeast Asian countries such as Brunei, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Laos, Vietnam, Singapore, Cambodia and even in China and Australia.
Air Asia is mainly based at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal, a terminal devoted to budget airlines, which is located at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. It operates here in the Philippines at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark. It offers daily flights to Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu City both in Malaysia.
My fellows Jaycees and I were carried by Air Asia in our trip to Kota Kinabalu City, Malaysia to visit Jaycees members there. The round trip airfare cost me P5,600. The airline also carried Jaycees from Malaysia who visited us recently. Air Asia made possible the strong bond of Kapampangan and Malaysian Jaycees.
1 comment:
huwaw. mahilig ka magtravel. nice!
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