Top 5 Low-Cost Airlines Of The Year 2008

Wow, this is the exciting moment for our budget travelers! Budget airlines have been striving hard for better market share by lowering down air fares all this while but passenger service quality are always criticised by their customers. However, low-cost does not need to, nor should it be equal to low-quality service. There are low cost airlines that provide reasonably good standard of customer care and passenger service quality.

Thanks to Skytrax, a specialist Research Advisors to the air transport industry based in London, as part of the World Airline Awards™ organised by them based on their annual survey, announced the Top 5 Low-cost Airlines of the year 2008 recently. The Awards are recognised around the world, and renowned for being the only truly global, Independent passenger survey of airline standards. Winners in the award are considered as the most budget-travelers preferred airlines in the world where low-cost and good quality are proved to be able to exist concurrently.

Here are the top 5:

1. EasyJet – An Uk based budget airline with a mission to provide customers with safe, good value, point-to-point air services, and to effect and to offer a consistent and reliable product and fares appealing to leisure and business markets on a range of European routes;
2. Virgin Blue – An Australian based member of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin group of UK, Virgin Blue and its international carriers Pacific Blue and Polynesian Blue currently operate a fleet of 60 modern Boeing 737 and Embraer E170 and E190 E-Jet aircraft. It has also launched Australia’s newest international airline, V Australia, set to commence flights between Australia and the USA from late 2008. Its on-time performance has scored highly in the award;
3. Jetstar Airways – An Australia’s and Singapore’s new low fare airline for Australia and the Asia-Pacific with the aim to provide consistent low fares to Australian, New Zealand and Asian leisure travellers. Started flying within Australia in 2004, Jetstar’s Australian operation is wholly owned by Qantas but is managed separately and operates independently, while the Jetstar’s intra Asian operation is a Singapore-based partnership between Qantas (49%), local businessmen Tony Chew (22%) and FF Wong (10%) and Temasek Holdings (19%) with the hub based in Singapore;
4. Air Berlin -Being the second largest airline in Germany, Air Berlin offers its customers the best value for money in terms of its service, onboard catering, 20 kg free baggage allowance per passenger, generous child discounts and favourable conditions for the carriage of pets and special or bulky items of baggage, and
5. Southwest Airlines – Southwest Airlines Co is an American low-cost airline based in Dallas, Texas. It is the largest airline in the United States by number of passengers carried domestically per year and also the largest airline in the world by number of passengers carried.

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About The Author

Cecil Lee

The author is an avid traveler and photography hobbyist who loves to share with others his travel and photo-taking experience in many popular tourist destinations around Europe, Asia and Australasia. Read the exciting stories with many photos captured on his journeys.