VALUAIR

'Valuair Limited' (Chinese: 惠旅航空) is a Singapore-based budget airline. It was launched in 2004, offering initial services to Bangkok and Hong Kong. It differentiates itself from other budget airlines in that it offers frills such as a baggage allowance of over 20 kg, in-flight food, allocated seats, and 32 inch seat pitch. It now mainly operates scheduled services to major cities in Indonesia.

Contents

History

Destinations

Suspended Destinations

Fleet

Events in 2005

External links

References

History

Valuair is the first low-cost airline to begin operations in Singapore, although some do not consider it as such by other definitions. Launching its first flight on 5 May 2004, it was funded by local businessmen, and had the expertise of an ex-Singapore Airlines employee as its CEO.
Valuair sought to differentiate from its competitors like the then rival, Jetstar Asia and Tiger Airways by offering free hot meals, wider legroom and assigned seating, and marketed itself as a low fare airline. The airline flew beyond the traditional 5 hour radius typical of low cost airlines and flew to destinations like Perth, Xiamen and Chengdu. The airline even had ambitious plans flying to Australia's East Coast and Northeast Asia using widebodied aircraft. In its plans, a Business Class and cargo operations was even thought of. However, rising fuel prices, along with lack of financial backing and the deep pockets of the Qantas- backed Jetstar Asia and Singapore Airlines- backed Tiger Airways finally forced the airline to concede defeat in the highly competitive local scene.
On the 24 July2005, Jetstar Asia and Valuair and Qantas merged to form Orange Star, in the first major consolidation of Southeast Asia's crowded low-cost airline industry. Jetstar Asia and Valuair said they would continue to operate their normal routes under their own brands in the meantime, with little or no change to the service offered by either airline. Qantas chief executive officer and Jetstar Asia chairman Geoff Dixon chairs the new company. Jetstar Asia chief executive officer Ken Ryan has been appointed as the chief executive of both airlines. The new company is to expect a cash injection of around more than 50 million Singapore dollars in fresh capital into the new entity, largely to be provided by Qantas. Shareholders of Valuair, including airline industry veteran Lim Chin Beng, Malaysia's Star Cruises and Asiatravel.com, have now become minority shareholders in the merged company.
Valuair today operates in name only because of the CAAS AWAir incident. In response to the CAAS' rejection of AWAir's application to fly to Singapore as Indonesia AirAsia, Indonesia embarked on a policy of protectionism, prohibiting low cost airlines of Singapore or Indonesia to add more services to each other. Jetstar Asia had not yet established routes into Indonesia and so has no flights to the country, while Tiger Airways had already begun services to Padang, which remains its only Indonesian destination. The merger is seen as Jetstar's strategy to gain entry into the lucrative Indonesian market.
The Valuair of today is operated by Jetstar Asia crews and inflight entertainment, as well as the menu are of Jetstar Asia's.

Destinations

Valuair currently offers flights between its base in Singapore to Jakarta, Denpasar and Surabaya, with Bangkok as a codeshare with Jetstar Asia. Since the merger with Jetstar Asia, the airline has cut routes to Perth, Hong Kong, Xiamen, Chengdu and Bangkok, as part of a consolidation exercise between both budget carriers.

★ Indonesia

★
★ Denpasar (Ngurah Rai Airport)

★
★ Jakarta (Soekarno-Hatta International Airport)

★
★ Surabaya (Juanda International Airport)

★ Singapore

★
★ Singapore (Singapore Changi Airport), 'Main Hub'

Suspended Destinations

★ People's Republic of China

★
★ Chengdu (Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport) till end of 30 October2005

★
★ Xiamen (Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport) till end of 30 October2005

★
★ Hong Kong (Hong Kong International Airport) as of 23 October2005

★ Thailand

★
★ Bangkok (Bangkok International Airport) (now temporarily offered as a codeshare with Jetstar Asia)

★ Australia

★
★ Perth (Perth Airport) until 9 October 2005

Fleet

As of July 2007 the Valuair fleet includes ^[1] :

'Valuair Fleet'

Aircraft	Number	Registration	Capacity	Routes
Airbus A320-232	2	9V-VLA, 9V-VLB	180	Short Haul

Events in 2005

★ On 24 July, 2005 the carrier announced plans to merge with Jetstar Asia. Both Jetstar Asia, a Qantas-backed airline, and Valuair were planning to operate their respective routes normally for the foreseeable future. The announcement came after several weeks of speculation about consolidation within South East Asia's budget airline industry.

★ From 11 September2005, Valuair will fly twice daily from Singapore to Jakarta. The new daily flight would be VF208 from Singapore to Jakarta and VF207 from Jakarta to Singapore. VF202 currently flies Singapore-Jakarta daily and VF201 v.v.

★ From 23 October2005, Valuair will commence daily flights from Singapore to Surabaya VF531 will operate from Singapore to Surabaya and VF532 will operate from Surabaya and back. Flights to Hong Kong will also be suspended.

External links

★ Valuair

★ Valuair Fleet Detail

References

1. Flight International, 3-9 October 2006