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The view from the North
01 November 2005
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airline
Airlines
Aviation
Airways
Boeing; Spring Airlines; Hansung Airlines; Air Asia
Despite predictions to the contrary, north-east Asian low-cost carriers have yet to make the same impact as their rivals in South-East Asia or western Europe.
Indigenous budget operators do exist, however. Hong Kong Express operates out of Hong Kong to Guangzhou and Hangzhou; Spring Airlines, which launched in July, flies from its base in Shanghai to Yantai; and South Korean carrier Hansung Airlines operates from Cheongju to Seoul. But the home-grown low-cost sector has emerged very slowly and none of them have shared the same success of easyJet or AirAsia.
A lack of airport infrastructure and government support is commonly blamed for holding back the market. But there are about 40 regional airports in Japan that are capable of accepting the Boeing and Airbus narrowbodies typically flown by low-cost carriers, and many of these airports are situated in attractive, densely populated areas.
The New Kitakyushu Airport has been actively courting...
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