Asian airline cost rankings: AirAsia X, SIA & Thai are most efficient while ANA is highest cost

Asian airline costs and efficiencies vary widely. Compared to Europe, the region is home to efficient LCCs like AirAsia, which on a stage length-adjusted basis is more efficient than Vueling or easyjet - but perhaps not Ryanair. Thai Airways is the most efficient of the major full-service Asian airlines, but it is not much more efficient than Finnair, one of Europe's leanest carriers. But Thai is certainly more efficient than many of Europe's full-service airlines, which have similar costs and stage lengths, unlike Asia's full-service carriers that occupy a wide spectrum. At the top end is Japan's All Nippon Airways, which rivals SAS' costs - Europe's most expensive major airline.

These are some of the findings from CAPA's examination of Asian airline costs. Geography and local labour costs only partially dictate total airline costs: three Japanese airlines are the most expensive in this sample. Yet Japan's independent LCC, Skymark is cheaper than any Chinese carrier while one of Asia's most efficient full-service airlines - Singapore Airlines - is from a country with a cost of living closer to the West than other parts of Asia. Many of Asia's full-service airlines need to shape up - and LCCs need to maintain cost discipline for when the cost gap is inevitably narrowed.