Virgin Blue, AirAsia and Skymark higher, Tiger Airways eases
Asia Pacific LCC shares were mostly higher to start the week, led by Japan's Skymark Airlines, which surged 8.8%.
- Skymark Airlines experienced a significant surge in shares, leading the Asia Pacific LCC market.
- Japan Airlines is considering cutting over 4,000 more jobs than initially planned, potentially benefiting competitors like Skymark Airlines.
- JAL has decided not to recruit any new graduates for fiscal 2011, including pilots and cabin crew.
- Virgin Blue's shares continued to rise following a positive February traffic report.
- AirAsia's shares increased by 0.7%, awaiting news on AirAsia X's rights to launch Kuala Lumpur-Sydney service.
- Tiger Airways' shares slightly declined by 0.6%.
It follows reports that Japan Airlines is considering eliminating over 4,000 more jobs than anticipated by fiscal 2012, to a total of 20,000, or nearly 40% of the existing JAL group workforce. JAL has also decided not to recruit any new graduates, including pilots and cabin crew, for fiscal 2011, for the first time in its history.
JAL's cutbacks are expected to play into the hands of rivals, including Skymark Airlines, which are anxious to expand. See related report: Early retiring Japan Airlines pilots could reshape Japan's airline industry
Elsewhere, Virgin Blue continued to rise after a healthy February traffic report, while AirAsia rose 0.7%. The Malaysian LCC is expected to learn in the next couple of days whether its long-haul arm, AirAsia X has gained coveted rights to launch Kuala Lumpur-Sydney service.
Tiger Airways shares eased 0.6% yesterday.
Selected LCCs daily share price movements (% change): 29-Mar-2010
Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation & Yahoo! Finance