By Karamjit Kaur, Aviation Correspondent

TRAVELLERS can expect more flights and lower fares between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur when the door to competition is thrown open in December.

Low-cost carriers, which have had one foot in the market since February, are planning to boost capacity in a big way.

From just a daily service now between the two cities, Tiger Airways will operate five flights a day from Dec 1.

Rival Jetstar Asia, which also flies to KL once a day now, will increase capacity to two or three flights daily.

To celebrate the long-overdue liberalisation, both airlines said in separate statements yesterday that they were giving away 50,000 free seats each.

Taxes and surcharges come to about $120 for a round trip.

Malaysia's AirAsia, which also serves the Singapore-KL market, is expected to announce its capacity increases today.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Malaysia Airlines (MAS) are the big players in the sector.

SIA flies six times a day to KL while MAS operates an average of eight flights a day.

Both carriers code-share which means a traveller with an SIA ticket can also go on an MAS flight.

The opening of the market comes after decades of domination by the two national carriers.

In February, governments on both sides of the Causeway gave the green light for low-cost carriers to operate the route but with restrictions on capacity.

The deal then was that the market would be fully liberalised in December.

Tiger Airways' managing director in Singapore Rosalynn Tay said: 'This is a huge milestone in Asian low-fare aviation... the customer is the big winner here.'

Jetstar's chief executive officer Chong Phit Lian said that with extra flights, the airline will be able to provide its customers with 'more convenience and connectivity'.

From a historical high of more than $400 for a round trip on the 45-minute sector before February, fares have fallen to about $150 for low-cost flights.

Since the partial opening of the market, SIA and MAS also regularly offer promotional fares of under $300.
Will further competition translate into even lower fares?

SIA spokesman Stephen Forshaw said: 'Consumers have already seen, since deregulation started, that the variety of fares has increased and given them more options. We will continue with those offerings, and others that we will make from time to time.'

MAS too is ready to defend its turf, said senior general manager for network revenue management Bernard Francis.
He said: 'We are monitoring the situation and we are prepared for competition.'

At the end of the day, 'competition offers customers more options' and they can expect to continue to enjoy the airline's competitive fares, he said.

The opening of the Singapore-KL market is part of a larger plan for the liberalisation of Asean skies.

Also from December, the deal is that carriers from the 10 member countries will be free to operate as many flights as they wish from their capital cities to any other capital city within the grouping.

The long-term vision is for a Single Aviation Market by 2015 which will allow carriers to criss-cross the region without any restrictions on where they can land and take off, and how many people they can carry.

karam@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Sept 26, 2008.

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