ASEAN Open Skies? That's only for capital cities. It was meant to kick in 2 years ago, and now it's apparently kicking in in 2015. And even then, will it? Isn't ASEAN all about that skit they put up at the end of the meeting?
Which interesting city pairs do you have for ASEAN open skies?
Singapore-all the ASEAN capitals perhaps. Dozens of flights SIN-KUL, MNL, CGK, BKK, SGN (but that's not the capital!)
But what other route pairs necessitate a full service premium carrier?
Manila-Bangkok:
PR 2x TG 2x 5J 1x daily
Manila-Jakarta: 4x weekly by
PR. No other airline flies it
Manila-KUL:
PR doesn't even fly it. MH 2x daily
Jakarta-KUL: Dozens of flights
Jakarta-BKK: GA 2x, TG 2x, Indon Air Asia: 1x
Jakarta-Hanoi: Not served
KUL-Hanoi: MH 1x, AK 1x VN 1x
What other routes within the ASEAN capital cities would be of much interest? If you take away SIN and BKK, the other capital cities can barely sustain a daily service. 3K is already serving all ASEAN capitals ex SIN except Laos. Even Rangoon is served by Jetstar Asia in cooperation with Myanmar Airways!
Oh isn't East Timor in ASEAN now. Any takers for Dili-Hanoi? or Rangoon-Jakarta? Silk Air already flies SIN-Dili.
In ASEAN you have Singapore and Burma and every country in between. Every country is culturally, politically and economically different from each other. Most ASEAN countries view each other with suspicion and try to outdo each other. Malaysia regularly has spats with Indonesia and Singapore. Singapore has spats with nearly every country due to small dick syndrome, and the fact it is richer than everyone else. That's why Singapore welcomes Australia into all the ASEAN meets because the rest of South East ASia hates Singapore and Australia, so both countries stick together because of common enemies. And so on.