Budget flights to the UK spend extra 20 hours flying and waiting | Travel News | News.com.au

SHOESTRING travellers are opting for budget-priced flights at the expense of spending 20 extra hours in the air and waiting at airports.

With airfares between Australia and Europe at historic lows, Aussie travellers are taking advantage of deals to destinations such as London from under $1000 return.

But the bargain priced flights come at a cost.

The Sunday Telegraph was quoted $1114 for a flight from Melbourne to London via Kuala Lumpur on Malaysian-based airline Air Asia X.

The flight included 22 hours of stopovers in Kuala Lumpur, and departure and arrival times of 1.25am and 12.10am. Both legs of the trip totalled an eye-watering 70 hours.

The same trip on Qantas would cost $1921 and totalled 46 hours return, with brief Asian stopovers.


Asiana Airlines quoted $1558 for the same flight, with a 16-hour overnight stopover in South Korea.

The flights have been made possible through budget airlines adding the "kangaroo route" to their schedules to compete with other airlines, including Qantas.

Air Asia X's long-haul budget flights are available only from the Gold Coast, Melbourne and Perth, but the airline is seeking permission to fly from Sydney beginning next year.

Qatar Airways will begin flying from Melbourne to Doha in early December, with connections to dozens of destinations throughout Europe. Flights from Sydney are set to follow in early 2010.

Garuda Indonesia will resume flights to Europe from June 2010, with flights from Sydney to Amsterdam via Dubai initially, with plans to expand to other cities.

Garuda has not flown to Europe since 2004, and Indonesian airlines were banned from flying to Europe in 2007 due to safety concerns.

Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation representative Dr Derek Sadubin said the increase in competition on the Australia-Europe route would continue to create downward pressure on fares.

"Garuda is following in the footsteps of Etihad from Abu Dhabi and Qatar Airways," Dr Sadubin said.

"They're joining the Middle East carriers, as well as new airline models based on low-cost, long-haul operations.

"Air Asia X has low fares from Kuala Lumpur to London. They average about $400 or $500 from KL, but I have seen them as low as $200 or $300.

"Air Asia X will be adding Paris and other places in Europe to their network sometime in 2010. We're going to see one-way fares around the $500 mark - all inclusive."

He said return fares could go as low as $1000 and, coupled with a strong Aussie dollar, made long-haul travel compelling again.