And a Quarter of a Billion Dollars is less than the cost of a single A380 (list is around US$350m)
Reality is with entirely leased aircraft there is not that much (relative to the rest of the airline) capital invested in the LCCs. And for this a large number of planes - 118 in all.
Japan - 17 A320s
Pacific - 5 A320s
Asia - 19 A320s, 3 A330s
Australia - 63 A320/321s, 11 A333/B788s
(source wikipedia, however accurate that is)
Mind you leasing planes means that you have to payoff all of that lease cost (effectively someone elses interest, depreciation and profit) before you make any money,