The World's Cheapest Airlines Are Asian

Travel planning website Rio2Go compared 200 major airlines by the average price per kilometer on international flight searches. The research found that four of the world's five cheapest airlines are Asian with Air Asia X in first position. Based in Malaysia, the medium and long-haul budget airline has an average cost per kilometer of $0.07, followed by Air India Express with $0.08 and Indonesia Air Asia with $0.09.

24 of the 30 cheapest airlines worldwide are based in Asia or the Middle East while no British or American ones make the top-10. There are still some European entries in the top-10 including Latvia-based Primera Air, Ireland's Ryanair and WOW air from Iceland. Ryanair's cost of $0.10 per kilometer is much lower than its fierce competitor Easyjet who had $0.19.

Interestingly, budget air travel is more expensive in the United States. Southwest's price per kilometer works out at $0.29 which is almost three times as much as Ryanair. Among other major U.S. carriers, Hawaiiwan Airlines comes in at number 45 with a cost per kilometer of $0.13. United's cost comes to $0.18 while American Airlines costs $0.18.