A NEW budget travel carrier started operating flights between Guangzhou and Singapore from Tuesday (Apr 25), with the one-way fare starting from 318 yuan (US$40).

The fare is only 15 percent of the regular fare. The airline, Singaporean Tiger Airways, also started to operate flights from Shenzhen and Haikou to Singapore yesterday.

However, not all passengers can have that fare.

"You need to book early or the fare will rise to around 500 yuan," a spokeman from the airline said.

He said all tickets between April and June were sold out.

Passengers have to pay for food, drinks and even water on the plane. Passengers will not be allocated seats when they buy the tickets. Those who check in early will be able to board first and choose their seats.

Local travelers said they liked the cheapest fare they had ever seen for a flight between Guangzhou and Singapore. A lady surnamed Chen said she was happy with the fare and thought it reasonable that airline charged passengers for items consumed during the flight.

As a budget carrier normally uses old planes, people have concerns about flight safety. Chen said she was not so worried, as the company must have been confident about flight safety when putting the aircraft into operation. While some others shared Chen's opinion, some government employees and businessmen said they would seldom fly a budget airline, as they were worred about safety. They also said a budget carrier was not as punctual as that of a normal carrier, for it sometimes canceled a flight when there were not enough passengers.

But the new budget airline already has made an impact on fares for the same route. China Southern has pushed its fare down to 1,800 yuan from 2,190 yuan. But Singapore Airlines, the controlling stake holder of Tiger Airways, has kept its fare of 2,600 yuan unchanged.

Tiger Airways has four Singapore-Guangzhou flights each week, two every Tuesday and one each on Thursday and Saturday.

Editor: Wing