Eight low-cost carriers in the Asia-Pacific region including Korea‘s Jeju Air formed a new alliance to expand their route networks Monday, but the group excludes some major players.

According to a statement, Value Alliance is the largest budget carrier alliance in the world, including Jeju Air, Cebu Pacific Air (Philippines), Nok Airlines (Thailand), Scoot (Singapore), Tiger Airways Singapore, Tiger Airways Australia and Vanilla Air (Japan).

It is the first alliance of its kind to cross state borders.

The alliance gives these airlines new opportunities to offer flyers transfer deals and ticketing options across the network, effectively expanding their own routes and resources.

Put together, Value Alliance operates 176 planes flying to 160 cities over the Asia-Pacific region. The partnership is expected to give low-cost carriers an additional competitive edge as they quickly increase their share of all flights.

In January to April of this year, budget carriers made up nearly one-fifth of all international flights heading out of Incheon International Airport, marking a 35 percent increase in the number of flights from 2015.

Value Alliance is modeled after partnerships between larger carriers such as Skyteam, which includes Korea’s largest carrier Korean Air and Star Alliance, which is home to Asiana Airlines.

However, the alliance does not include AirAsia, the largest low-cost carrier in the region that has more than 100 planes in its fleet alone. In order for the alliance to hold clout comparable to that of the larger alliances, Value Alliance would have to embrace AirAsia.

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)