The past month has confirmed that Asian airlines are not immune to the pain from soaring jet fuel costs and a slowdown in the US and other western economies.

Tuesday’s worse-than-expected earnings from ANA and Korean Airlines followed record losses for EVA and China Airlines, the Taiwanese carriers, this week. More worryingly, airlines such as Oasis Hong Kong and Far Eastern Air Transport have fallen by the wayside. But in spite of this environment, there is still interest in stepping into the Asian arena.