The opening up of the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore route will cut air fares and spur travel between the two most advanced Southeast Asian countries, an aviation think-tank said.

"The route, a cash-cow for Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines, is in the sights of Tiger Airways, AirAsia and Jetstar Asia, which all promise to offer significantly lower fares," Peter Harbison, executive chairman of the Sydney-based Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation, said in a statement yesterday.

Harbison said "the unrestricted Singapore-Bangkok route has seen a 47 percent increase in the number of seats between 2000 and 2005 and a 75 percent rise in frequencies."

That compared to a 1.6 percent increase in seats between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur and a 28 percent reduction in frequencies over the same period, he said.

Agents of change

Harbison said the opening up of the route would again demonstrate the role of low cost carriers as agents of change in the region.

AirAsia's current one way fare from Kuala Lumpur to Senai, neighbouring Singapore, is already priced about 75 percent below prevailing Kuala Lumpur-Singapore fares, he said.

Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia said yesterday it expected to start flights on the lucrative Kuala Lumpur-Singapore route by early 2007.

Chief executive Tony Fernandes said the airline was planning 20 flights daily to start "within the next six months" for the under one hour journey on a route long dominated by the national airlines of both countries.