flee

It could also be Bahrain as one of AirAsia X's shareholders is a Bahrainian company. So it may be easier to obtain regulatory approvals if AirAsia X has a local shareholder.

AirAsia X to launch new Middle East hub Long-haul budget airline AirAsia X said today it would launch a new hub in the Middle East, enabling its network to extend to north Africa and Europe. AirAsia X’s chief executive officer Azran Osman-Rani said a location had already been chosen in a Gulf state but that it would not be disclosed for several weeks. “This will open up completely new markets, and we won’t always have to have the planes based in Kuala Lumpur, which limits us to an eight-hour radius,” Azran told reporters. “There will be many in the aviation industry who think this is crazy because the traditional low-cost model is to do only point-to-point flights... to keep it simple,” he said. Azran said, however, that while there would be “some additional cost”, AirAsia X would not need to create new infrastructure and would instead hire existing services for cargo, catering and maintenance. Initially, the carrier will operate flights from Kuala Lumpur to the Middle East hub, before branching out next year by using it to jump to destinations that could include Morocco, Turkey, Spain or the Czech Republic. Azran said the plan was also triggered by potential problems accommodating new aircraft, amid doubts that Malaysia’s airports authority will complete a new low-cost carrier terminal in Kuala Lumpur by 2011 as scheduled. “It will relieve the pressure of having all our planes in Kuala Lumpur, especially if the new airport is not finished and we do not have enough parking bays,” he said. AirAsia X now flies to seven destinations, with two more planned by the end of 2009. It operates five planes, a combination of Airbus A330s and A340s, with three more medium-range A330s due for delivery this year, three in 2010 and six in 2011. Azran said this week that AirAsia X has been denied permission by the Malaysian government to fly into Sydney and Seoul, due to a row over its sister carrier AirAsia. But he said Wednesday that it would instead boost flight frequency to the Gold Coast in Australia, Hanzhou in China, and the Taiwanese capital Taipei. An affiliate of regional low-cost carrier AirAsia and Virgin Group, AirAsia X was launched in January 2007. AirAsia and AirAsia X have common shareholders, including AirAsia founder and CEO Tony Fernandes. -- AFP

Hehehe, but I'd rather work with people smarter than me. Unfortunately, there are too few of them left in this country, and I am not that smart either.

From The Star: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/7/29/business/20090729113502&sec=business KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia X Sdn Bhd, a long-haul budget airline and related company to AirAsia Bhd, is looking to set up its first ever virtual hub in the Middle East next year. AirAsia X chief executive officer Azran Osman-Rani told reporters Wednesday that this hub would serve the region and beyond and was part of the airline’s expansion strategy. He said the hub would be used for flights from Malaysia to Middle Eastern destinations as well as from the Middle East to Europe.

If the government and MAHB continues to muck AirAsia and AirAsia X around, they must surely be considering moving the operational headquarters out of KLIA LCCT to somewhere more business friendly to their requirements. Of course, AirAsia X may be less forgiving and tolerant because it has more foreigners as their shareholders. If the govt. is not careful, it will be driving Malaysian businesses offshore, just as it has driven its best brains and human resources offshore.

Unfortunately the government may have a point here. AirAsia is a shareholder of AirAsia X and it also stands to benefit from the pax AirAsia X brings in. However, the government also forgets that if AirAsia X brings in more pax for itself and AirAsia, MAHB will also collect more taxes. So the government has failed to see the big picture. However, based on how this BN government previously behaves, I think they just want to squeeze them by the balls and see them squirm. In the end they will approve, so this means delays. They just want to tell Uncle Tony that they are the bosses, so don't try to be funny!

Agree that the KUL-SIN HST will not be with us anytime soon, simply because it will mean the death of the Plusway! It will be like the Eurostar killing off coach and air travel between London and Paris. However, it is far greener to use a train for this short sector compared to flying.

Yes, I was contemplating booking return AK flights for RM 95 during the Singapore Air Show next year!

MH/SQ/MI have a code share agreement. That is why they don't do so many flights on their own nowadays.

I think the actual flight time between SIN and KUL is only 15 mins. The reason the flight takes 1 hour is due to air traffic control procedures, aircraft ascending and descending. If you are on a long distance flight that overflies SIN, you will notice the plane will begin descending about 5-10 mins after it it passes SIN. I think that for door-to-door, KUL-SIN journey times are not that much different - just that flying apparently feels faster because we forget to include the time for ground transportation and hanging around at the airport. It is the boredom on a bus that make things seem so long... And yes, the CIQ too!

A flying wheel can impact elsewhere on the aircraft or engines if the plane is in flight. So yes, it is potentially capable of bring down an aircraft.

I believe that the early Subang Airport publicity material all included a Concorde flying overhead. Even the commemorative postage stamps have it. I also remember my mum taking the MSA Comet 4 flight to SIN, and some DC-3's were also operating then. When MSA split to become MAS and SIA, it was rather sad. But I admired the beautiful SQ livery and was wondering why MAS had such unprofessional colours. If I remembered correctly the SQ livery was designed by Singapores top postage stamp designer. That logo has become so iconic that SQ dare not replace it! Yes, that circular viewing gallery is always a hit - one can even see the pilots doing their pre-flight check lists. In the mornings and evenings, we can also see the vortices doing their thing on the planes' wingtips. I would say that aircraft spotters in those days have it real easy, a far cry from these days.

If they do it properly, they might even be able to charge extra for connections!

I think competition is good - so current airlines should never concede a walkover. Besides there are a lot of people who would never fly AirAsia X. So there are still customers to be had.

Hmmm, I wonder why I could not remember! Do you know why the 735's were phased out?

Frankly, the only reason why they are talking about this is to "tease" the analysts who are not too savvy about LCC business models. This is a capital intensive industry and they are always on the lookout for finance. So increasing the awareness of the brand and business model will be good for it. They are so closely knit operationally already and the synergy is clear for all to see. AirAsia just needs to increase its shareholding in AirAsia X slowly and it can then call it a subsidiary. And if AirAsia X has sufficient financial muscle, it can also do a reverse "takeover" and take AirAsia private!

I think that the seats are badly designed - it is not just the dimensions but how much of that is used. It gives a claustophobic impression even at those dimensions. And yes, the sliding virtual mechanism is not really much help. That is why they are planning to replace it with the A322 type seats but maintain the seat pitch at 31".

I can't say I am tempted until they change those horrible 3-3-3 seats. However, for shorter flights like this one to TPE, it may still be bearable. But I do feel the A322's seats are better, even though the pitch is only 29" compared to the A333's 31" pitch.

Don't remember MH ever having B735's in their fleet... Debt is not necessarily a bad thing. The ability to service debt is more important. The older planes delivered since 2006 are almost paid off - with old planes coming off financing, the cash released can go to pay for new planes. If I remember correctly, all of AirAsia's deliveries that are scheduled for 2009 has already been financed - I remember them signing a deal with Barclays Bank of the UK. AirAsia is not like other Malaysian airlines or businesses. Its corporate culture is not the same either. Its employees will die for it and they are all highly motivated to make it a success. So we cannot judge them based on old Malaysian business and airline industry benchmarks.

Sepang, 21st July 2009 – AirAsia, the world’s best low cost airline continues to strengthen its international connectivity by increasing its flight frequency to Taipei. The Kuala Lumpur – Taipei route, serviced by AirAsia’s low-fare long-haul affiliate AirAsia X, was launched 23rd April 2009 with only 5 weekly flights from the Kuala Lumpur hub. In fulfillment of the extra demand, the airline has decided to go daily from Kuala Lumpur to Taipei beginning 19th October 2009. To celebrate the additional flights, AirAsia will be offering an all-in-fare from just RM129 (TWD1, 290) from Kuala Lumpur to Taipei. The daily flight to Taipei opens for sale for the booking period from 23rd to 31st July 2009, for the travel period from 19th October 2009 to 10th January 2010. Promotional seats are limited and available on first-come, first-served basis and are on offer exclusively online via www.airasia.com and mobile.airasia.com. Azran Osman Rani, Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia X said: “The response has been incredible ever since the opening of the Kuala Lumpur – Taipei route. We are running at more than 75 percent load factor. This latest route edition also marked a breaking sales record with more than 20,000 seats sold within the first 12 hours of its sales announcement in April and forward bookings were exceptionally strong allowing us to now increase our current frequency from 5 times weekly to daily.” Kathleen Tan, Regional Head of Commercial, AirAsia said: “The demand for the existing route made it very clear for the need to introduce additional flights. The increase in frequency is a testament to the airline’s commitment of making travel accessible and affordable to all. The commencement of the daily flight will also provide both business and leisure travelers with more flexibility and greater choice to connect onto AirAsia and AirAsia X’s extensive route network via its hub in Kuala Lumpur to get across Asia, Australia, and Europe.” “With excellent air connectivity and frequency between Taipei and Kuala Lumpur, mutual economic benefits can be expected as AirAsia’s low fares and innovative services will definitely stimulate more travel both inbound and outbound from these two destinations” added Kathleen. AirAsia through its holiday division GoHoliday, is also offering guests Free Room stay* when they book with our partner hotels in Kuala Lumpur such as Hotel Renaissance Kuala Lumpur, Hotel Equatorial Kuala Lumpur, One World Hotel Petaling Jaya, Corus Hotel Kuala Lumpur, Tune Hotels and many others. Guests are also showered with “Best Online Rates in Taipei” from 5 star hotels from as low as RM383/night to 3 star hotels from as low as RM212/night. This promotion which is valid via goholiday.airasia.com is available on first come, first served basis. On the other hand, Citibank AirAsia Credit Cardholders will enjoy 24 hours priority booking (from 22nd July 2009) ahead of the general public for this promotion. The Kuala Lumpur - Taipei route is serviced by our Airbus A330- 300, which holds 383 economy seats including 28 Premium seats which have an impressive 60-inch seat pitch. For more details on flight times and bookings, please visit www.airasia.com or mobile.airasia.com. Stay tuned! Follow AirAsia on Twitter, Facebook, and AirAsia Blog where we will provide real time updates on our latest promotion. * All fares quoted are applicable for one-way travel only. Source: http://www.airasia.com/site/my/en/pressRelease.jsp?id=9c5ac576-7f000010-12834000-188b7511

AirAsia plans to sell three B737 aircraft The Star Report is here: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/7/17/business/4317682&sec=business AirAsia is really facing space constraint problems - they do not have much of a problem raising finance overseas. It is only Malaysian banks who are afraid to give them loans because their analysts do not understand the nature of the aviation industry, especially low cost carriers. Remember until today, they only had to deal with GLCs like MAS. Operationally, AirAsia have no choice but to announce starting a hub in PEN. It is not just parking spaces for night stops that is the problem. Terminal pax handling is another issue. If there are insufficient transit parking spaces, or if the LCCT infrastructure cannot cope with the 25 mins turnaround time, AK will have serious problems. People (esp politicians and civil servants) seem to think that running a LCC is a walk in the park. If that is the case, they should try working at AirAsia!

AirAsia Berhad is a public company - it has to face analysts, some of whom do not have a very good understanding of how the low cost carrier business model works. These analysts did not like AK's "no fuel hedging" policy last year and marked down their shares. Guess what, AK had to kow tow to them and start to do fuel hedging - this resulted in massive Q4 losses as the oil market crashed. Had AK continued their no hedging policy, they would probably not suffer such high losses. This year, the analysts are crying "AK gearing too high"... So is it any wonder AK decided to kow tow to the analysts again? If they don't, share price might fall below 70 sen again!

I think AK has no option but to slow down deliveries because LCCT is too small not only to park the planes but also in pax handling. Other hubs may not be so viable and carry more business risk.

Beautiful photography KC. Its not just the aircraft but also the angles and arty bits. Lots of A.Net worthy shots you got there! Thanks for sharing.

It means put engines at full thrust so that aircraft takes off as quickly as possible.