If you travel as a backpacker through Asia your main transports will be buses, trains, tuk-tuk & co ... although it is clear that there are distances that are more practical (and sometimes even cheaper) to cover by air. And unless you have a private giant bird, a magic carpet or wings, this means one thing: airplane.
But, what are the low cost companies in Asia? Which are the cheapest? And the best? Here is a list with The main low-cost companies operating in Asia.
AirAsia
It is the great low-cost company of Asia, come on, the Ryanair of the East ... but much better! It is based in Malaysia and covers virtually all Asian destinations and even reaches Australia. Too bad they removed direct flights to New Zealand, France and UK. According to the critics it is the best low-cost company in the world.
We flew a lot of times with this company and we found it excellent.
Tiger airways
It covers different destinations in Southeast Asia, India and Australia from its hub (main base) in Singapore.
We did not test it directly, but the reviews are very good.
Jetstar Airways
It has flights to Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, the Philippines, China, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. It is the best option if you want to make the jump to Oceania from Asia. Good prices, easy to book on your website and comfortable flights "within what fits."
We used it to travel to New Zealand and it went well although nothing remarkable.
Fire fly
It is a Malaysian company that flies to many national destinations and operates some international route (Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia)
Bangkok Airways
Its hub is Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport. It covers the main Thai tourist destinations (Chiang Mai, Phuket, Krabi ...) and operates international flights to China, Japan, Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Laos. The prices are higher, but you can find some good offer.
On our first trip to Thailand we flew from Phuket to Koh Samui with this company. Would we repeat? If the offer were good ... of course!
Nokair
Thai company that covers almost all the main national destinations and some international (Laos, Malaysia).
We use it on a couple of occasions for flights within Thailand and it is highly recommended: the planes are like the others, but they have a very good service, even if it is low cost they give a snack and free water on the flight and at the airports they have implemented a WiFi network of the company to which you can connect with your reservation number.
Silkair
It is the low-cost of Singapore Airlines. Fly to Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia, India, China ...
In our opinion it is not so cheap, but if you catch the right offer it can be very convenient!
Cebu Pacific
Philippine company based in Manila. It operates international flights (Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, China, South Korea, Japan) and domestic (all major Philippine cities).
We flew twice, and it went very well, although there are usually delays! They take very interesting offers ... we catch flights at 50%! Olé!
Lion air
Indonesian company based in Jakarta. It covers flights to Indonesia and Malaysia.
We did not test it because in Indonesia we did not need to take planes. It has good, and bad reviews!
Dragonair
This company is based in Hong Kong and belongs to the Cathay Pacific group. It covers different destinations to China and some internationally (Thailand, Cambodia ...)
Spring airlines
Its hub is Shanghai, in China. Fly in the main Chinese destinations.
Flyscoot
It is based in Singapore and flies in many Asian destinations (India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, China, Vietnam ...) and Australia.
We didn't know her, but she looks good.
Jinair
It belongs to the Korean Airlines group based in Seoul. If you plan to fly to Korea, check out!
Mihinlanka
Low-cost company from Sri Lanka that covers destinations nationwide.
These are companies that operate mainly in India:
- IndiGo Airlines
- Go air
- Air India Express
- Spice Jet
- King fisher airlines
- Deccan Airlines
Do you know others Asian low cost companies? Have you flown with any of them? Have you had problems? Did you like them? Leave us your opinions!
* Note on Kingfisher:
- your website does not make more reservations (“We have suspended all future bookings till further notice”),
- Skytrax says that, although it is one of the best companies in the world (5 stars!), It is “suspended”.
Thanks toElfeailleurs by the comment!
