And with it being the day budget flights between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur made their debut, the family made big savings for their flight to the Malaysian capital.

It would have set them back more than $8,800 to get everyone to KL on Singapore Airlines (SIA), but going on Tiger Airways' inaugural flight cost them just over $3,200.

Of the 21 travellers, three were under 10, so taking the bus or train was not an option, said Madam Chandra Maha Lakshmi, 31, a financial planner and mother of three-month-old Dayal, the youngest of the lot.

She said at the end of the 40-minute flight: 'Dayal did not even cry. If we had done this by coach, it would have been a back-breaking journey.'

Cheaper Singapore-KL air fares are here to stay, now that Tiger, Jetstar Asia and Malaysia's AirAsia are operating a total of four flights a day between the two cities. In December, all restrictions will be lifted so these carriers can run an unlimited number of services.

Until then, SIA and Malaysia Airlines (MAS), which have enjoyed a lucrative, 35-year stranglehold on the Singapore-KL route, will continue to dominate the market with 13 flights a day between them.

But liberalisation, although on modest scale for a start, has already benefited the flying public.

Barring special promotional fares, SIA and MAS now charge $440 for a round trip, but the many low-cost travellers The Straits Times spoke to yesterday said they paid under $200.

Some were even lucky enough to snag the 45,000 free seats that Tiger and AirAsia offered in the lead-up to the launch of services, so they paid just the airport taxes and surcharges.

Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times.