TIGER Airways celebrated the arrival of its 11 millionth passenger this week, and next week, Jetstar Asia will launch its maiden flight to Haikou in southern China.

Aggressive expansion by the two Singapore-based carriers - as well as others like Malaysia's AirAsia and Firefly, and the Philippines' Cebu Pacific - has led to a boom in the number of low-cost flights here.

From just 234 flights a week in December 2004, such airlines now operate more than 1,280 weekly services, making up almost 26 per cent of total air traffic at Changi.

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