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The Malaysian cabinet, by moving to remove Malaysian Airline's (MAS) floor price on its domestic airfares recently, has given the green light to favoured son, MAS to slash prices. With glee, MAS has signalled it will, very much to the annoyance of AirAsia, which claimed such a move contradict key elements of the MAS-AirAsia route rationalisation policy.
MAS has basically declared an airfare dogfight with AirAsia. Much as so-called analysts may allude to the public benefitting from an airfare war between MAS and AirAsia, this would be true only in the short run. The long term aftermath will see the travelling public pay more, plus all flow-on costs passed down to the general public.
Airfare battles are waged for two reasons. The first seems healthy where there is competition between two airlines offering the public the best deals. But the ultimate objective doesn't stop there, for the second and the real reason of an airfare dogfight is to cripple the other, the one with shallower pockets.
In such an air battle, the competitors would offer ridiculously low airfares that even the most undiscerning traveller would know thatb it can't be logical business sense. But hey, it's offered, so let's not look a gift horse in the mouth but grab it and forget about the other airline - unless it too offers even more ridiculously low airfares.
MAS has basically declared an airfare dogfight with AirAsia. Much as so-called analysts may allude to the public benefitting from an airfare war between MAS and AirAsia, this would be true only in the short run. The long term aftermath will see the travelling public pay more, plus all flow-on costs passed down to the general public.
Airfare battles are waged for two reasons. The first seems healthy where there is competition between two airlines offering the public the best deals. But the ultimate objective doesn't stop there, for the second and the real reason of an airfare dogfight is to cripple the other, the one with shallower pockets.
In such an air battle, the competitors would offer ridiculously low airfares that even the most undiscerning traveller would know thatb it can't be logical business sense. But hey, it's offered, so let's not look a gift horse in the mouth but grab it and forget about the other airline - unless it too offers even more ridiculously low airfares.