Cheap Flights: Cologne-Hong Kong

1 euro 99 plus taxes for short distance international flights has long been nothing new in Europe. Discount carriers like Easyjet, Ryanair or Germanwings captured around a third of the air travel market, and much of the growth in air travel can be attributed to their stunningly cheap offers.

Asia boom

Airlines are also benefiting from the economic boom in Asia. According to IATA - the International Air Transport Association - passenger volumes have been growing steadily at around 8 percent per year for countries like India, China and Pakistan. But unlike Europe, discount airlines still only play a relatively small roll in Asia, making up around 10% of the market.

Apparently, the trend is about to change. Richard Pinkham – a consultant for the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation in Singapore – says thinking in countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore is in for a radical change:

"Malaysia has faced charges of protectionism for many years. It was felt that they were single-mindedly trying to prop up Malaysian Airlines at the expense of the citizens and the economy . But they are fully behind the Air Asia phenomenon today. In fact, they’re talking about having meetings with Singapore to open up the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur route which was for years the biggest example of protectionism in the sector. They have also authorised Air Asia to fly long haul out of Kuala Lumpur."

Europe's biggest 'low cost' airport

Earlier this month, the Malaysian no frills carrier Air Asia announced plans to launch Air Asia X – which will provide cheap flights to Europe, America, China and India. It’s the third Asian discount airline to do so, and Michael Garvens – General Manager of Cologne-Bonn Airport – is banking on them to bring a bonanza to his airfield:

"As the biggest European ‘low cost‘ airport, we’re positioning ourselves to be the hub for cheap long haul flights to Europe."

Michael Garvens says the cheap carrier Oasis – which already operates flights between London and Hong Kong from 150 euros upwards – is planning to open a Cologne-Hong Kong route at a similar price this year.

"We’ve been having intensive talks with Oasis for two years. We’re already logged in as a route – the only thing we’re waiting for is for Oasis to get the machines it needs to fly it."

So far analysts have been sceptical about whether the cheap flight business model can be applied to long distances because it works on the premise of turning flights around quickly to get as many journeys out of a machine per day as possible. With 10 hour journeys, this possibility diminishes significantly. Yet Michael Garvens is convinced that the future lies with discount long haul flights:

"Whether it’s world-wide reservation systems, or lounges and mileage programs, these are all high costs that discount airlines don’t have to carry. You have to realise that the big airlines make huge profits out of their long distance flights and use these to subsidise their short distance routes."

Something a discount airline doesn’t need to do. And even if passengers may have to carry their own luggage in between, at Cologne-Bonn airport they can hop from their discount flight from Hong Kong on to their next one to Madrid.

Environmental worries

But not everyone is diving for their credit cards in anticipation. Environmentalists – who have long been sceptical about the growth in air travel – see it as a nightmare scenario. Sven Harmeling is an environmental expert for the German based NGO Germanwatch.

"There are a number of uncertainties surrounding the effects of air transport on the climate, but we assume today that it accounts for between 4 and 9 percent of the man-made factor in climate change – and that tendency is growing strongly."

Sven Harmeling says one of the most dangerous impacts of cheap flights is the psychological signal:

"These low prices lead people to expect that flying should be cheap and that everyone can fly anywhere for any purpose. But you have to ask yourself – is it really necessary to fly on a shopping trip to London or Madrid for the weekend? And when you see this tendency spilling over into flights between Asia and Europe, then its obvious that air travel is rapidly becoming an extremely big problem for climate control."

But with governments across Europe showing little appetite for reining in popular discount flights, the trend towards more air travel shows no sign of abating soon.