Photo: 
AFP
The rise of the cheap, long-haul airline

Airbus’s A350, a new long-haul passenger jet, touched down in Kuala Lumpur today on the last leg of a short tour to show off the plane to Asian airlines. Airbus’s aircraft and Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, already in service, are 20% more fuel-efficient than the current crop of wide-bodied jets. That makes them particularly appealing to a growing band of low-cost, long-haul airlines that seek to undercut incumbents, as they already have on shorter routes. Norwegian Air Shuttle operates 787s across the Atlantic and to Thailand at fares that it claims are 40% below competitors’. AirAsia X, which flies long trips from its base in Malaysia, has ordered 50 A330neos, another Airbus model that promises similar gains when it enters service, probably in 2017. As more budget carriers get hold of parsimonious planes, cheap fares will please passengers—but frighten full-service airlines.

Nov 26th 2014
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