In the last 10 years, longhaul low cost airlines have mushroomed with international seats growing by 900%, newcomer World Airways, the first longhaul LCC in the US, will be 100% digital and Millennial-focused while Cebu Pacific is trying to think of itself less as an engineering company but more of an ecommerce business with aeroplanes.

My summary from the first day of the CAPA Global LCC Summit 2018 in Singapore.

There is no doubt that low cost airlines have changed the way we travel within our region – now get set for the next wave because long haul LCCs are taking off and spreading their wings and it’s going to change the way we in Asia think of longhaul travel. “Let’s go to Berlin for the long weekend” will become as common a cry as “Let’s go to Bali”.

A few years ago, I heard aviation experts express skepticism about the viability of a longhaul LCC – about how it wouldn’t be viable if fuel price was over $70 and who’d want to travel for long hours in a low cost airline but new, economical aircraft types have arrived to allow airlines like Scoot, AirAsia X and Jetstar Airways offer products and services that ain’t too bad for the price you pay, as well as new technologies that allow airlines to retail and merchandise better.

Peter Harbison on the evolution of longhaul low cost – that’s where the next battle in the skies is.

Peter Harbison, executive chairman of CAPA, talking about what he called the third phase of LCC evolution, said that full service carriers, realising they can’t compete on shorthaul, will reduce costs and frills and while they will continue to dominate longhaul with network operations, they will also start their own longhaul low cost subsidiaries, for example, Singapore Airlines and Scoot, which has announced flights to Berlin, Athens and Honolulu. Meantime, LCCs would grow their longhaul routes, and expand network operations.

All of which means good news for us travellers as air fares come down on longhaul routes and we can as easily take holidays in Hawaii as Hong Kong.

According to CAPA which held its LCC Global Summit in Singapore this week, in 2008, longhaul LCC accounted for 2,082,545 domestic seats and 2,686,804 international. In 2018, the numbers are 3,224,553 and 25,992,277 – meaning domestic seats have increased by 55% and international seats have grown by 900% in the last decade.

Read the full article here.