Eight budget carriers in the Asia Pacific have announced the formation of the world’s largest alliance of low-cost carriers (LCC), the Value Alliance.
The alliance is composed of Cebu Pacific (including wholly owned subsidiary Cebgo), Jeju Air, Nok Air, NokScoot, Scoot, Tigerair Singapore, Tigerair Australia and Vanilla Air.
A press release issued by Cebu Pacific said the alliance will provide greater value, connectivity and choice for travel throughout Southeast Asia, North Asia and Australia.
Customers will be able to view, select and book the best-available airfares on flights from any of the airlines in a single transaction, directly from each partner website, thanks to technology developed by Air Black Box (ABB). This means more destinations, more routing options and greater convenience for customers of each airline, the release said.
Unlike typical interline technologies, ABB also allows guests to enjoy the full suite of ancillary choices from LCCs, such as seat and meal selection, variable baggage allowances and other inflight features – across all partner airline sectors in a single itinerary. ABB’s Air Connection Engine (ACE) platform has filed for NDC Certification with IATA and is expected to complete full certification soon.
The Value Alliance airlines, which together cover a third of the earth and serve more than 160 destinations with a collective fleet of 176 aircraft across the Asia Pacific region, will strengthen distribution in their non-home markets, expand their saleable networks via the provision of interline itineraries, retain their ancillary revenue opportunities and offer their customers a better, one-stop-shop experience.
“All of our airline partners are champions in their local markets and well regarded for their value and service regionally and nationally. The Value Alliance is a clear example of how LCCs can accomplish more by working together than we could do individually,” Lance Gokongwei, President and CEO of Cebu Pacific said.
“We are extremely excited by the opportunities this partnership presents to our guests. The Value Alliance partners are leaders in their respective territories, having forged loyal followings by providing value, service and commitment to their home markets. By working together we can offer our guests a wider choice of destinations and flights – at the most competitive airfares – all in one go,” noted Scoot CEO Campbell Wilson.
Added Patee Sarasin, CEO of Nok Air, “The opportunity enabled by ABB and the Value Alliance to offer ancillary products through interline channels is a significant benefit over other partnerships, given LCCs typically earn 10-25 percent of their revenues from such items.”
Scoot, Nok Air and NokScoot are already offering each other’s flights and fares powered by the new ABB technology and other alliance members will follow in the coming months.
“The technology enables us to interface with other airlines within the Value Alliance, including those using different passenger service systems (PSS), to provide a solution to a guest’s travel query – even on routes Vanilla Air may not itself serve to connect Japan to the rest of Asia Pacific,” noted Katsuya Goto, President of Vanilla Air.
Asia Pacific’s tourism industry is the largest in the world. With more than 500 million visitors expected to arrive in Asia Pacific by 2020, the new Value Alliance will connect travellers to more of the unique destinations they wish to explore that are typically found in secondary cities.
