Value Alliance Network (VAN) was established last May by Cebu Pacific, Jeju Air, Nok Air, NokScoot, Scoot, Tigerair Singapore, Tigerair Australia and Vanilla Air. It has grown over the past year and is now said to challenge AirAsia’s dominant position in Southeast Asia.

The report also quoted a Goldman Sachs analyst as saying that the roll-out of VAN’s booking system by end-2017 could even affect up to 51% of AirAsia’s capacity in the same routes covered by the eight low-cost carriers.

“Though AirAsia is still the best-in-class and has a structural cost advantage over its Southeast Asian peers, AirAsia’s share price has doubled over the last year and its investors may balk at the word ‘competition’,” Barron’s said.

The analyst also suggested the big winner in the region would be Cebu Pacific, which he said would be able to extend its reach and expand its product offerings, without having to spend as much to develop the same on its own.