Over the past few years, the waves of cheap airline have been growing and aimed at conquering the traditional airlines market. Cheap flights such as Air Asia, Jetstar, etc are getting popular. Everyone can enjoy the convenience of booking the airline tickets online.

Air Asia from Malaysia is the pioneer of low cost traveling in Asia. It has recently launched a ZOOM promotion. What’s so special about this promotion is that it offered fares that are as low as RM9* one-way from Kuala Lumpur hub to exciting domestic destinations. According to AirAsia’s Regional Head of Commercial, Kathleen Tan, the launch of the ZOOM promotion was a mark of support to the Tourism Ministry’s effort to promote domestic tourism. The booking period for this promotion begins on 28 July – 5 August 2008 for the travel period of 1 September – 13 November 2008. Find out more of the promotion. Also, the AirAsia X’s network focus cover destinations which are more than 4 hours in flight duration from Kuala Lumpur.

FireFlyz is Malaysia’s first community airline and is wholly owned subsidiary of Malaysian Airline System Berhad. It currently offer extra flights for Subang – Kota Bharu from 29 & 30 september to 3,4,5 &6 of Otober. One could save more if purchase the airline ticket together with the package of the destinations.

Tiger Airways is based in Singapore, with its primary hub at Singapore Changi Airport. It offers a series of real cost savings Tiger Add-On products such as Luggage Upsize, Sports Equipment Check-in and Seat Selector. These Tiger Add-Ons are designed to ensure passengers can enjoy more convenience, assurance and comfort.

Jetstar Asia is based in Singapore. Jetstar Asia Airways and Valuair merged on 25th July 2005. Both airlines operate out of Singapore and fly to most major cities in South-east Asia. Valuair is now having a promotion from Singapore to Medan, Indonesia from S$128. The newly launched ‘Booklovers on Board’ programme provide a selection of short story books that are recommended by the Singaporean National Library Board as part of its nationwide READ! Singapore campaign. Books will remain on board till the end of August 2008.

Lion Air had the largest market share in Indonesia and was once the official airlines for Miss Asean in 2005. It served various domestic destinations and international destination including Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, and Ho Chi Minh City. Besides, Adam Air is a privately owned airline based in Jakarta, Indonesia. It marketed itself as an airline that is in-between low-cost and traditional carriers by offering onboard service with meal at competitive price. This is an advantage that make it outstand from others. Citilink is another airline company based in Indonesia. You could booking the tickets online for domestic destinations - Balikpapan, Bandung, Batam, Jakarta, Medan, Pekanbaru and Surabaya.

Cebu Pacific Air is based in Manila, Philippine. It is the nationl flag carriers. It scheduled flights to both domestic and international destinations in clude Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, etc. Air Philippines transfers to terminal 3 starting 24th of July 2008. All arrival and departure of Air Philippines and Pal Express will be at the NAIA Terminal 3. It served for domestic destination in Philippine.

Bangkok Airways is a regional airline based in Bangkok, Thailand. It scheduled services to 20 destinations include Thailand, Cambodia, China, Japan, Laos, Maldives, Myanmar, Singapore and Vietnam. Apart from that, there are Nok Air and One Two Go airline served for domestic destinations in Thailand.

Siem Reap Airways is based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia with hubs at Bangkok International Airport and Angkor International Airport, Siem Reap. It operates services at both domestic and international destinations including China, Laos and Thailand.

Tips when booking cheap airline tickets
Book early
Book as earlier as you can. Some budget airlines only allow booking the next three-month, so you should book within the limitation. Besides, some airline companies also used tiered pricing strategy where a small number of airline tickets are sold at a cheap price while the rest will be charged at a higher price.

Fly during the week
During the weekends or the school holidays period, the price of the flight tickets will increase considerably. There is bound to be crowded too. So try to depart and return during the week. It can save you lots of money.

Get to the airport on time
Most budget airline companies will try to reduce number of employees in order to save costs and provide cheap flight tickets to customers. This means that check-in staffs do double-checking as gate staffs. So be sure to get you more time to get to the airport.

Try the conventional airlines
Many conventional airlines sometimes offer cheaper flight tickets than the low cost carrier.

Baggage allowances
Additional fees will be charge on you if your bag has exceeded certain kilograms.

Be sure to check where you are going
Some low cost flights will be landed in the airport that is far away from your final destination.

Sources: asiaforvisitors, Budget airline tips from the BBC in Shropshire