Budget airlines set to soar as limits are lifted

The daily use rate of an airplane by West Air is about 12 to 13 hours, while the average number of the whole industry is about 9.8 hours a day, said Liu Feihu, control manager of the carrier's operations center.

"Reducing the ground handling time is an important way to improve the use-rate," he added.

The carrier, which uses the 13 Airbus 320 family aircraft, runs more than 70 domestic flights daily.

Accordingly, the airline's ticket price is about 15 percent lower than the market's average level.

The carrier provided more than 10,000 tickets with 70 to 90 percent discounts. Some tickets were only priced at 8 yuan in November 2013.

After the transformation from being a traditional airline into a low-cost airline, West Air's flights load factor also increased by 5 percent, reaching 90 percent.

However, Chinese low-cost carriers still have to cultivate the market before they can gain more market share.

"People's acceptance of budget airlines is still a challenge for us," said Cen Jianjun, vice-president of West Air.

As a low-cost airline, West Air still provides in-flight food and a free luggage check-in service, which incur fees at other budget airlines, Cen said.

On the other side, Chinese budget airlines also need to increase their income from non-flight business, which is common among low-cost airlines as a main income source globally.

The income from non-flight business accounted for only 3 percent of West Air's total income in 2013, while the percentage for Air Asia was about 20 percent.

Currently, West Air's non-flight business includes insurance, hotel booking, tourism and vehicle rental.

The carrier plans to increase income from non-flight business to 5 percent in 2014 through offering extra services.

"We will provide full travel services in the future," said Xiao Lin, general manager of the carrier's marketing and sales department.

It is an advantage for the carrier that its parent group has other tourism subsidiaries covering hotels, travel agencies and tourism destinations.

"It is easier for us to cooperate," Xiao added.