The Price War Has Begun

Great news for ppl in Malaysia from TheStar.com.my today. Eversince AirAsia came into business it has been giving a positive competition to MAS. *clap clap* The sales start 2 days ago so if you're planning for a holiday, call your travel agent NOW!

1.1 Million Cheap Tickets Up For Grabs

By WONG SAI WAN and ROYCE CHEAH KUALA LUMPUR:

Malaysians can now look forward to more cheap air fares as the country’s two rival airlines are offering some 1.1 million cut-price seats to domestic and international destinations.
Prices as low as RM1 for domestic AirAsia flights and RM19 for domestic Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flights will make passengers spoilt for choice.
AirAsia is also offering low-price seats for international destinations with one-way flights to Macau from RM61 and Chiang Mai from RM41. Flights to holiday destinations like Phuket will cost RM21 or to Hanoi from RM51.
MAS’ cheapest flight is for a one-way ticket to Penang, Johor Baru or Kuantan whereas the most expensive tickets are at RM139 to Labuan and Kota Kinabalu.
The sales period for AirAsia is from April 23 to 29 for travel between Oct 1 and March 29 next year.
As for MAS, the sales period is from April 23 to 28 for travel between May 7 and May 22, and, June 14 and June 30. However, travel will be restricted to certain days within those periods for some destinations.
MAS’ cheap fares fall under its SuperSavers promotion with 500,000 tickets allocated over six days for domestic locations only.
AirAsia’s low fares promotion is a celebration of its recent F1 Grand Prix partnership with the AT&T Williams team, with the 600,000 low-fare seats offer going under its Fast & Furious campaign.
Both airlines are only allowing booking of seats online and prices do not include airport tax and other surcharges.
AirAsia and MAS denied they were in a price war, saying the offer had already been planned for some time.
AirAsia executive vice-president Kathleen Tan said they were “extremely flattered to observe other carriers imitating our successful marketing model.”
She added that AirAsia promises the lowest fare that no other carrier could match all year round.
“I will let the public decide who is responding to a price war. Smart consumers will vote with their own pockets,” Tan said .
MAS senior general manager for network revenue management Bernard Francis denied that the carrier was copying AirAsia.
“We have a strategic rollout plan for our promotions. In fact, from December last year, we started our monthly promotions for domestic routes to encourage travel in support of Visit Malaysia Year 2007 and to address lean travel periods,” Francis said in an interview.
When asked if MAS was reacting to a market that demanded such offers, he said MAS promotions were targeted and planned.
“In addition to attractive fares offered during the Malaysia Airlines Travel Fair and during MATTA fair, we will continue to do a series of domestic and international promotions this year to stimulate travel as part of our strategy to maximise revenue opportunities,” he added.