LCCs have finally started to penetrate the North Asian market, helping to drive the rapid growth as lower fares have stimulated demand. LCC capacity in North Asia particularly has increased tenfold over the past 10 years, albeit on a small base, and has nearly doubled in just three years.
This represents an LCC penetration rate of less than 20%, indicating that there is still plenty of opportunity for further LCC growth. LCCs are planning more rapid expansion in 2019 but the region's FSCs are also growing, particularly in China.
A panel session at the CAPA - Centre for Aviation Airline CEOs in Seoul Summit and Gala Dinner in the South Korean capital in early Jun-2019 discussed what Asia is doing to meet this increasing demand; questioned is this level of growth sustainable and considered how the travel industry is reacting to this growth.
The session was expertly moderated by AAPA, Director General, Andrew Herdman and included key insights from Air Vanuatu, CEO, Derek Nice; China Southern Airlines, SVP international & corporate relations division, Guoxiang Wu; Skyscanner, senior director, strategic partnerships, Hugh Aitken; SpiceJet, chief customer service officer, Kamal Hingorani; and Spring Airlines, chairman, Stephen Wang.