Australian airline named world’s cheapest

WE LOVE to complain about how expensive flights from Australia are. But this new graph shows we are very wrong, and actually have a pretty good deal.

MANY of us love to complain about how expensive flights from Australia are. We’re so far away, we constantly have to endure many hours cramped into uncomfortable airline seats in order to get to our much-loved destinations such as Europe and America.

But it turns out that we actually have it pretty good when it comes to the price of air travel.

That’s according to the 2018 Global Flight Price Ranking, which has placed an Australian airline at the top of its list of the cheapest airlines around the world.

A total of 50 carriers were analysed in the report by online travel agency Rome2Rio, which found that passenger on Pacific low-cost airlines are paying the least for their trips when calculated in $US per kilometre.

Surprisingly, Tigerair topped their list, followed by AirAsia X, Indonesia AirAsia, Jetstar and Etihad.

The cheapest airlines in the world.

According to the research, Tigerair’s cost was a tiny $US0.06/km ($A0.08/km) and it received much praise for its recent takeover.

Rome2Rio wrote: “Following years of bad press (it was voted Australia’s worst airline three years in a row), it was bought by Virgin in 2014 who seem to have turned its fortunes around.

“It’s not often we say this, but sometimes cheapest can be best.”

Some may ponder, though, whether the writers have actually been on a Tiger plane.

Meanwhile, the most expensive Australian airline on the list was Regional Express at $US0.59/km ($A0.78/km), while Qantas was at $US0.15/km ($A0.20/km).

Tigerair is tracking well, according to the report.

Internationally, standouts include Primera Air, which was named the fourth cheapest airline, and Norwegian Air, which came in at seventh place.

Looking at the figures on a global scale, Chile was the cheapest country to fly in, with an average cost of $US0.11/km ($A0.15/km). Indonesia, Turkey, India and Bulgaria made up the rest of the top five list.

The price comparison was based on economy class airfares displayed on their website in January and February this year. Rome2Rio serves millions of visitors per month, and covers hundreds of airlines and millions of tickets.