Sky skirmish looms: Low-cost airlines face turbulence from price-dumping giants

The survival of emerging low-cost carriers in Southeast Asia could be threatened as dominant airlines may resort to price-dumping strategies to safeguard their market share. The airline industry’s seat recovery is also projected to take a decade to fully bounce back.

Really Cool Airlines’ Chief Executive, Patee Sarasin, previously the chief executive of Nok Air, expects to obtain the Air Operating Certificate (AOC) in January 2024, having received an air operation licence in this year’s third quarter.

Post-AOC approval, Really Cool Airlines aims to initiate full-service charter flights between March to May 2024 to destinations such as Tokyo, Nagoya, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Shanghai. The plan is to transition to scheduled flights in the third quarter.

Initially, the airline will deploy two Airbus A330-300 aircraft, aiming for a utilisation…