Guangzhou becomes popular destination for budget airlines

Global budget airlines see China as a new growth region and are attempting to enter its market, especially in Guangzhou in southern China's Guangdong province. The southern city is around five to six hours from major cities in Asia, making it a popular destination for the airlines, reports the local newspaper Xin Kuai Bao. AirAsia, Tiger Airways, Jetstar, Scoot and Cebu Pacific Air have already begun to launch flights between Guangzhou and Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Manila. India's SpiceJet Airline has also launche d a route between New Delhi and Guangzhou at the beginning of the year. Asia has become the fastest growing market for budget airlines last year. Their businesses in the area increased by 2.1% from 2011 and amounted to 18.6% of the world budget airline market last year, according to Amadeus IT Holding, a global travel and tourism industry transaction processor. Many low-cost carriers have also begun to use Guangzhou as a hub for transfer flights. Their passengers can take a transfer flight from Guangzhou to reach other Southeast Asian cities or to Australia. While SpiceJet has opened a route that transfers via Guangzhou to Dubai. However, even though the airlines are thriving in Guangzhou, the city does not have its own low-cost airline or facilities to target the industry. Nawal Taneja, an airline strategist, said that the development of budget airlines in China has been slower than other countries as China was previously wary of open its market fully to foreign airlines. Domestic budget airlines are hoping to capture some of the market share in Guangzhou, with AirAsia promoting its ticket sales in local markets and on Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter. Many of the domestic airlines have also set up simplified-Chinese websites with friendly interfaces to attract customers. Meanwhile, SpiceJet said the majority of its customers are Indians in Guangzhou but its services have also attracted those in Henan and Zhejiang province. The real challenge for the airlines is how to get Chinese customers used to their business model as food and luggage are not included in the price of budget airline tickets. The companies will also have to deal with the poor perception that the general public has of their services, with many customers avoiding budget carriers as they expect poor service for the low price. Source: Want China Times from China Travel & Tourism News http://www.chinatraveltourismnews.com/

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