With the establishment of low cost carriers air travel has become accessible for the budget traveler now. It was Air Asia that pioneered in this direction in Asia region in the year 1993. This Malaysian based no frills airliner operates both domestic and international flights spanning 400 destinations and 25 countries. Kuala Lumpur International Airport houses its main hub. Its affiliates are Indonesia airAsia, airAsia Philippines, Thai AirAsia and AirAsia Japan. Its head office is at Kuala Lumpur and its registered office is at Petalinn Jaya, Selangor.

In the first decade of its operation it faced a lot of ups and downs and was not making any profit. In 2002 it was taken over by Tune Air Sdn Bhd. This low cost venture added new routes from its hub Kuala Lumpur and it started making some profit. In the coming years more destinations were added that paved the way for growth. The result of this is that at the end of 2007 the passenger volume reached 18 million. Low cost air travel benefited many people to reach their destinations cost effectively.

The fleet size of Air Asia is 101 comprising of airbus aircrafts which carries passengers to 88 destinations across the globe. Snack Attack is a buy-on-board program which allows passengers to purchase food and drinks. For the benefit of the passengers a frequent flyer program called Big is set up. Under this, loyalty points are issued to AirAsia customers and also the third party merchants. These points can be used to redeem flights in this airline. Thus the passengers can fly at a lower cost by availing as many points as possible.