AirAsia has announced plans to set up a low-cost airline in a partnership with Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten in an attempt to tap into the Japanese air travel market. Though tourism into Japan continues to rise, outward travel from Japan is currently 3.3% down year-on-year.

India’s travel and tourism industry is set to grow by over 7% in 2014, with more Indian youths realising their dream to see the world. Once a distant aspiration, holidays are now a tangible reality that urbanites will pay for. But what motivations are driving their travel plans?

In 2013, over 3 billion passengers took to the skies. As airlines aim to make flying as simple as taking the train, could everything people would normally associate with air travel – endless queues, bad food, cramped, uncomfortable seats – be about to change for the better?

Most “last-minute holidays” are actually booked a few weeks in advance rather than minutes. Launched in July 2014, an app called Flight Tonight is set to change this, offering travellers the cheapest round-trip flights departing in nearby airports in as little as two hours.