Today our beloved SIA announced a launch of a long-haul budget carrier. Yup, you heard right, I just used “SIA” and “budget” in the same sentence. C.f. Bloomberg:

The new unit is “a reflection of the challenging prospects in the premium air-travel market,” Rigan Wong, an analyst at Citigroup Inc. in Singapore, said in a report today. “The latest venture provides Singapore Airlines a complete platform to tailor its services to various customer demands.”

And here is just about the only sane person in this article:

“I’m quite surprised by this,” said Kelvin Lau, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research. “Operating low-cost carriers in the region is already very tough, but long- haul ones will be even tougher.”

Mr. Lau is quite right about this. SIA will be facing steep initial costs, if Tiger’s story is anything to go by: Starting a New ......