AC

Budget airlines are leading a revolution in air travel in Asia. Carriers such as Jetstar, AirAsia and Tiger Airways are driving demand by rolling out flights to underserved Asian cities. They're forcing full-service Asian airlines to lower fares and, in some cases, launch their own discount airlines. U.S. carriers, in an effort not to be left behind, are beefing up their long-haul services to the region and striking alliances with their Asian counterparts. The moves come as booming economies such as China and India lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. From 1990 to 2008, the middle class more than tripled to 1.89 billion people in developing Asia, which includes China and India. This population, defined by the Asian Development Bank as those spending $2 to $20 a day, is increasingly demanding middle-class trappings: televisions, refrigerators, cars and travel. At the same time, once tightly regulated air markets in Japan, South Korea and China have begun opening to...