Temporary Low Cost Travel Cafe

[onebir]

The plans sound quite modest: 6 planes in Oz (partnering with SkyAirWorld) and 4 in Thailand (partner not announced).

Wonder why they're skipping Malaysia...

Lionair's safety record isn't exactly pristine. Although their only fatal crash involved an MD82, their 747s have been involved in three non-fatal crashes and incidents since the airline started operating in 2000 . No wonder their slogan's "We make people fly".

Given this record, would Lion Air itself would be allowed to operate abroad? Airasia's pioneering of the joint venture model appears to be turning into a double edged sword - unless Lion Air has improved safety or the JV planes will be subject to a totally separate safety regime - the JV appears to allow operators with poor safety records to expand internationally, as well as getting round the foreign ownership restrictions it was originally designed to circumvent.

And of course for Airasia there's a third edge: increased competition - perhaps more than could have been anticipated - as other carriers join the Australasian low cost carrier JV party.

[Konangrit]

Yes, I read about this, but I don't think it's very likely they'll get far with their Thailand plans. Foreign ownership of Thai airlines is a very politically sensitive subject, and was partially responsible for the military coup. The laws have been tightened up since then, so the best they can hope for is a minority share with no rights to majority control over it. I don't think it would be very easy to find Thai investors either, there's plenty of airlines here already, and it's a very competitive market, so it doesn't sound very feasible to me.

Safety is another problem, recently the Bangkok Post listed a string of accidents and close misses this airline has had, and said there would be extremely tough scrutiny of any application due to the airline's bad safety record, and the safety record of Indonesian airlines in general. Turning the application down on safety grounds would be an easy way out for the authorities to refuse permission even if they technically satisfy the ownership laws.

As for Australia, they don't suffer from the political problems an application would face here, but I'd imagine their safety record would come under even tighter scrutiny.