Singaporean low-cost carrier Jetstar Asia is to boost the frequency of its flights between its Singapore Changi International Airport base and Yangon to keep up with growing demand in the developing Southeast Asia market. Myanmar has become a tourist hotspot in the region with tourism revenue increasing by 67 per cent between 2011 and 2012, from $315 million to $534 million, according to statistics from the Myanmar Ministry of Hotels and Tourism.

Jetstar Asia will introduce the additional three weekly rotations on the Singapore – Yangon route from November 20, 2013, boosting its network offering to ten weekly flights. The carrier was the first low-cost carrier to launch services on the route with three weekly flights in October 2005 and it increased the link to a daily schedule from 2012. Since its debut, Jetstar‘s passenger numbers on the route have almost doubled and it is now offering 15,600 seats each month between Singapore and Yangon.

“In the last few years as Myanmar has opened up and more tourists have started to explore this country, the demand for our low fares services has grown significantly,” said Bara Pasupathi, chief executive officer, Jetstar Asia. “It is fantastic to be able to offer even more options for not only our point to point travellers from Singapore but also to our Jetstar customers flying into our Singapore hub from other parts of the region,” he said.

Offering a morning and an afternoon flight, the revised Jetstar schedule will not only suit the growing number of business and holiday makers going to Yangon, but will provide more options for people to connect through to other cities opening up in Myanmar. Jetstar Asia’s debut on the Singapore – Yangon route came at the time that Myanmar Airways International ended its own operations in the market, although it has continued to face direct competition from Singapore Airlines’ regional division SilkAir. Myanmar Airways International has subsequently relaunched flights between Singapore and Yangon, while Singapore Airlines, Golden Myanmar Airways and most recently Tiger Airways have all launched flights on the route.

In the table below we look at the growing capacity on offer between Singapore and Yangon and highlight Jetstar Asia’s share of the market based on flight schedules. This year has seen the largest annual rise in frequency (38.6 per cent) and capacity (52.6 per cent) and follows nine years of rapid growth (with the small exception of 2005 and 2011 when growth slipped to slower rates). Since 2003 capacity between Singapore and Yangon has increased a massive 468.8 per cent.