AirAsia May Fly To Uzbekistan, Says Abdullah

[Fitri Shukri 0]

Wahh, Dato TF taking it seriously. I thought he will just wait for the whole thing to die down and everyone (except those here in MW) will foget about the whole thing.

[Ashmil Abd Ghani 0]

Emm I thought it just a suggestion and I don't expect TF to react this fast and serious..

 

I can smell that the A330 that he will deploy maybe a stop over for they D7 fleet en-route to London.. :pardon:

[Y C LEONG 1]

maybe after a couple of months all these will be vanished and nobody remembers if air asia did say they gonna fly to uzbekistan..

 

 

Edited November 19, 2008 by Y C LEONG

[Yusoff 1]

From The Star

 

Thursday November 20, 2008

AirAsia plans to fly to Tashkent next year

 

JOHOR BARU: AirAsia will begin flights to the Uzbek capital of Tashkent by the end of next year, said chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes.

 

He said the budget airline felt that Central Asia and Eastern Europe were huge potential markets and his company had already conducted initial studies in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

 

“We can do Uzbekistan next year. With the huge Asian network, many people from South-East Asia would want to go to Uzbekistan,” he said.

 

He said the leg would open up new lines of tourism and business.

 

He pointed out that the historic city of Samarkand was world famous and attracted tourists.

 

Fernandes said AirAsia had always been about opening up new areas and markets and felt proud that the company was recognised as providing a service to the country. []

 

He said AirAsia would probably start with three to four flights a week.

 

When asked about the rates, Fernandes said that it was still too early to decide but would probably around RM800 to RM900.

 

On Monday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is on an official visit to Uzbekistan, said he had asked Fernandes to consider flying to Tashkent.

 

Aha aha ahahaahaha!!...

 

[Chaity 1]

Well, I will make sure myself to mark this down on my calander. I will check by end next year.

[Pieter C. 5]

Maybe AK can start first with 320's, as an extension of the India route(s), and when traffic has picked-up can 'boost' to non-stop 330's

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

If demand is overwhelming, Uzbekistan Airways won't be flying a pathetic 2 weekly service to KUL. To me, it seems that Dato TF is sucking up (in response to Pak Ucop's reply) to the PM by having the viability of the service being studied right away. I hope the outcome would be negative as I don't think it will work. Those who fly to Uzbekistan from Malaysia are just Petronas workers, and they don't fly (the cheap) Uzbekistan Airways either from KUL or BKK. So do you think they'll fly (the cheaper) AirAsia?

 

TF will suffer from post natal syndrome or "meroyan" coz Najib is pro MAS...ha ha ha ha!

OMG! I haven't heard the word 'meroyan' for ages! Can't imagine Dato TF in 'meroyan' mode.

 

Hope all AK 'kroni' (crony) will be charge by ACA.... tunggu

Of course, since the ACA is under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister's Department. The then former Prime Minister may be charged as well (I am referring to Pak Lah here) if this is going to taken seriuosly.

 

post-natal syndrome.... wahhh... imagine this, after paklah stepped down, suddenly LCC need to be closed, all move to MTB.

I second that! Not sure how the aftermath would be to Dato TF. After 'meroyan' could it be ...?

 

Yeah!!! LSG contract with MAS pun kena review...kah kah kah.....

I like your sense of humour. Very good.

[eltan 0]

Maybe AK can start first with 320's, as an extension of the India route(s), and when traffic has picked-up can 'boost' to non-stop 330's

 

yea i second it!

[Izanee 0]

exactly...they can't even operate twice weekly 767 or 757 service to KUL..they tried but now its back to the lower capacity A310. BKK is now getting more frequencies on the 767.

 

TF is definitely sucking up to Pak Ucop. I doubt that TAS will be their priority!

[Azreen 0]

The fact that BKK is getting more attention is a foregone conclusion because Uzbeks provide alot of labour to Thailand.

 

I suspect AirAsia Thailand could gain more from AirAsia Malaysia on this. TF speaks on behalf of the entire group.

 

 

[KC Sim 2]

It looks like AirAsia is getting the undivided attention of politicians in the same manner that MAS had in the past which resulted in such exotic destinations as Bueno Aires and Zagreb. Under such circumstances, airline CEOs begin to shudder in their pants each time the PM's office announce his official travel plans. Hope that destinations such as Tahiti, Chad, Cuba, Trinidad & Tobago etc are not on the PM's itinerary.

 

And is the PM now in Peru for the APEC Summit? Gosh, if he is, I wonder which airline will be gently encouraged to fly to Lima.

 

Uzbeks are far more likely to opt for Thailand as the destination provides all the "right" ingredients : great locations and food, very liberal attitudes and very low costs. I am not sure Malaysia is prepared to battle it out for these markets - Bali to a certain extent is moderately successful in marketing to Russians and CIS countries - and such traffic are at best extremely seasonal.

 

Good luck AirAsia X . . . looks like you need to order more aircraft with those huge Elastoplasts!

 

KC Sim

[Izanee 0]

Chad might be a problem since Petronas were almost kicked out there last year...they had to pay some 'fines' to stay on along with Chevron, I think.

 

KC...i like the 'elastoplast' aircraft....how very low cost!

[Nik H. 3]

Guys, don't be naive. I have great respect for Dato' TF and he has amazing abilities of turning a 'bad' situation to AK's advantage. He can see further than any of us here.

 

He will handle this with his trade mark panache and will come out the better over the Government. Unlike MH, no one can force AK to do what they themselves don't want to do.

 

Besides, Malaysians' memory span is shorter than the flashgun on my Canon.

[Izanee 0]

I'm sure TF knows what he is doing. He couldn't have made Air Asia so big if he was full of crap. As you say Capt Nik, AK can do as they please without hindrance from whatever party including Cabinet ministers and heads of city councils. He is there for the profit and nothing much else Good for him...he worked hard for it.

 

(doesn't mean i agree with his suggestions of moving to Subang - that will definitely kill KUL's hopes to become a hub)

 

 

 

[Chaity 1]

Time to resurrect this thread since another 15 days to the promised 1 year ....... <_>

 

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Re-cap

 

From The Star

 

QUOTE

Thursday November 20, 2008

AirAsia plans to fly to Tashkent next year

 

JOHOR BARU: AirAsia will begin flights to the Uzbek capital of Tashkent by the end of next year, said chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes.

 

He said the budget airline felt that Central Asia and Eastern Europe were huge potential markets and his company had already conducted initial studies in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

 

“We can do Uzbekistan next year. With the huge Asian network, many people from South-East Asia would want to go to Uzbekistan,” he said......

 

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[Waiping 12]

As I have said it before AK/D7 can say a lot of things but I will believe when the route is listed on their website. Surprisingly they didn't blame it on Air Astana's direct link to that region this time around. <_>

[flee 5]

Air Astana is doing them a favour. If they get high load factors, it means that there is good demand for flights to this region.