AirAsia X and Scoot help make Sydney Australia's hub for low-cost long-haul carriers

The inaugural AirAsia X flight arriving into Sydney on 02-Apr-2012 is ushering in the era of low-cost, long-haul carriers at Australia's largest airport, which is poised to take the title of offering the most service from low-cost long-haul carriers between Australia and Asia. While Jetstar already links Sydney to long-haul destinations and previous carriers like Viva Macau tried, this new wave is of carriers going beyond point-to-point traffic to offer connections out of large Asian hubs.

AirAsia X will be followed by Scoot, and the presence of a Singapore low-cost long-haul carrier in Sydney makes it likely that Jetstar too will enter the Sydney-Singapore market, although parent company Qantas will have to accept that corporate routes previously in its exclusive domain must now be shared if it wants to remain relevant in a market with increasingly diversifying traffic.

The sudden influx of long-haul LCCs can be attributed to competitive responses but also the new government in New South Wales that is eager to better promote Sydney Airport.