Naim 6 Report post Posted February 2, 2009 Yay, more destinations! === February 02, 2009 20:49 PM AirAsia To Add Six New Destinations To China Region SEPANG, Feb 2 (Bernama) -- AirAsia Bhd will introduce six new destinations to the China region by year-end, chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes said Monday. He said the new destinations would be Tianjin, Chengdu, Chongqing and Xian in China and Taipei and Kaoshiung in Taiwan. Currently, AirAsia flies to Guangzhou, Guilin, Haikou, Hangzhou and Shenzhen in China and Hong Kong and Macao. Tony said flights to Tianjin and Taipei were expected to be available by the first half while Chengdu and Chongqing in the second half and Xian by end of the year. "From our review we found out that China was phenomenally strong for us in 2008 and so far since we started flights to China, AirAsia have carried two million passengers from and into China. "This shows that Malaysia has become a very important destination for Chinese people," he said at a press conference here. He said the review also revealed that the low-cost carrier carried one million passengers in 2008 alone, hence it was aiming to increase the total number of passengers on the Malaysia-China routes to 1.5 million. "The numbers shows my faith that we could be a strong hub here to China as we now have more flights per week as compared to Changi Airport in Singapore," he said. The review was a "silver lining for the airline despite the current economic situation and negative news it has been linked to recently," he added. -- BERNAMA http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/news_lite.php?id=387193 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dr Chuo Hock Tieng 0 Report post Posted February 2, 2009 ishk ishk.. itchy itchy ...must fly to china on LCC... itchy itchy... must get one cheap cheap seat... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
prosibu1 0 Report post Posted February 2, 2009 i wonder that taipei and kaosiong is using A320 or A330..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Naim 6 Report post Posted February 2, 2009 ishk ishk.. itchy itchy ...must fly to china on LCC... itchy itchy... must get one cheap cheap seat... I'm doing Guilin with AK early Aug at RM322/pax return. I guess next would be Xian and Chengdu. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Li Ren 2 Report post Posted February 2, 2009 Yeahhh, able to visit Taiwan with LCC.. Looking forward to taste all those delicious Taiwan snacks Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nabiel Haniff 1 Report post Posted February 2, 2009 i wonder that taipei and kaosiong is using A320 or A330..... Hopefully,they'll use A330 for more comfort and PTV Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mohd Azizul Ramli 2 Report post Posted February 2, 2009 Apart from Tianjin, are the other 5 routes will be served by AirAsia (AK)? Can the A320 reaches Chengdu further up from KUL? Any news that AirAsia will reopen their Xiamen station, which were closed not too long ago? Great news as 3 of the destinations are currently being served by MH (Tianjin for PEK, TPE and KHH) while the other 2 were destinations previously served by MH (Chengdu and Xian). Competition by AK usually resulted in MH giving massive discounts on their affected routes. I view this development as negative to MH, should they have the intention to recommence their route network in China as AirAsia might have gained substancial market shares by then. I assume India would be AirAsia's next region for route expansion. Quite a pity as MH once tried to explore this market but they failed (MH axed Chengdu and Xian in China, Kolkata and Ahmedabad in India during BTP I). Speaking of new routes, contrary to the ever expanding AirAsia, is MH going to stay still at its present route network? The last new destinations introduced were JOG and MFM about a year ago. So that's it? Is MH still in the recovery phase? AK has started to scale China, then India while SQ has started their Middle East expansion at the moment, with RUH (via DXB) and KWI (via AUH) being added into the airline's route map. What will left for MH then? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Naim 6 Report post Posted February 2, 2009 Yeahhh, able to visit Taiwan with LCC.. Looking forward to taste all those delicious Taiwan snacks Not yet been to Taiwan, maybe time to consider now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hon Kit 3 Report post Posted February 2, 2009 Hopefully,they'll use A330 for more comfort and PTV I suffer quite abit in their A330. I hope they use their A320 instead. I think Airasia will do well for their Taiwan route. OT a little. Just wondering why dint they (Airasia) dint have more route and more promo for their Hong Kong flight. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nabiel Haniff 1 Report post Posted February 2, 2009 I suffer quite abit in their A330. I hope they use their A320 instead. I think Airasia will do well for their Taiwan route. OT a little. Just wondering why dint they (Airasia) dint have more route and more promo for their Hong Kong flight. Why? Their A330 seatpitch are smaller than a320? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aiman 0 Report post Posted February 2, 2009 (edited) If I've given choice as economy class pax to choose 330 or smaller brother (321/320) Ill go for the smaller brother..in term of comfort.. Edited February 2, 2009 by Aiman Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Teh 0 Report post Posted February 2, 2009 Great... just in time for my 2nd Taiwan attempt.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jysim 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2009 I was grumbling to Mum about the scarce amount of LCCs serving Taiwan (only Jetstar Asia to SIN at the time being) yesterday, and now...ta-da My excitement comes not from AK serving TPE or KHH, but from the heavy discounts that MH will give soon after. Heh, hopes AK is true to their words this time! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Seth K 3 Report post Posted February 3, 2009 Taiwan is my fav city in Asia! Fly there AK please Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Azri M. 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2009 (edited) From Berita Harian today, sorry can't find the info from an English newspaper: AirAsia sasar penumpang China meningkat 1.5 juta AIRASIA Bhd, syarikat penerbangan tambang murah terkemuka Asia, mensasarkan jumlah penumpangnya dari China meningkat kepada 1.5 juta tahun ini berbanding sejuta tahun lalu, dibantu oleh pengenalan enam destinasi baru. Ketua Eksekutif Kumpulannya, Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes, berkata enam destinasi baru AirAsia ke China yang akan diperkenalkan tahun ini ialah ke Tianjian (Beijing), Taipei, Chengdu, Chongqing, Xian dengan menggunakan pesawat AirAsia X, manakala satu lagi destinasi iaitu ke Kaohsiung, menggunakan pesawat AirAsia. Beliau berkata, penambahan enam destinasi baru itu akan menjadikan jumlah keseluruhan penerbangan AirAsia ke China tahun ini sebanyak 13 destinasi, termasuk tujuh destinasi sedia ada seperti Shenzhen, Ghuangzhou, Haikou, Macau, Hong Kong dan Guilin. Basically, AirAsia X (A330) will service: Tianjin Taipei Chengdu, Chongqing Xian While, AirAsia (A320) will service Kaohsiung. So that solves the riddle Edited February 3, 2009 by Azri M. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Naim 6 Report post Posted February 3, 2009 If I've given choice as economy class pax to choose 330 or smaller brother (321/320) Ill go for the smaller brother..in term of comfort.. Uh-huh? I flew to OOL with AKX and the 330 was much more comfy than the 320. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Li Ren 2 Report post Posted February 3, 2009 Saw advertisement of Air Asia on today's Star paper which seems like they will start the seat numbering system on 5-2-09, hopefully after that passengers do not have to be ''huru-hara'' when they board the plane.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mohd Fuad Bin Rosli 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2009 Saw advertisement of Air Asia on today's Star paper which seems like they will start the seat numbering system on 5-2-09, hopefully after that passengers do not have to be ''huru-hara'' when they board the plane.. 2 may or 5 february? Huhu.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Li Ren 2 Report post Posted February 3, 2009 It is on the 5 February 09 which means two more days to go Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Waiping 12 Report post Posted February 3, 2009 No new route for BKI or KCH? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
reyneo 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2009 Hmm... except for TianJin, all the other destinations are definitely A320-able. From SIN (which is even further than KUL): Taipei (3K A320) Kaoshiung (MI A320) Chengdu (MI A320) Chongqing (MI A320) No point sending a 330.. it just means a higher base cost and more seats to fill to break even 3K's LCC monopoly in TPE will come to an end, meaning they will surely lower their prices on their TPE flights (which are currently only SLIGHTLY lower than CI) to compete... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
prosibu1 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2009 mayb their A320s are with different engines... who noes?.... BTW, AirAsia states that it will only fly the destinations tat within 4 hours long time ago... AND... KUL to taipei is 4 hours 30minutes according to MAS timetable maybe MH 747 fly slower than AK A320 ? who noes?.... BUT BKK - Bali distance - 2960km duration - 4hours15minutes(20minutes for return) 700km/hour KUL - Taipei 3260km--> 4hours40minutes KUL - kaohsiung 2985km--> 4hours15minutes KUL - Xian 3588km -->5hours10minutes KUL - Chengdu 3119km-->4hours30minutes KUL - CHongqing 3030km -->4hours20minutes *KUL - TRZ 3 hours 45 minutes *KUL - hong kong 4 hours * KUL - Guilin 4 hours * KK - TPI 3. hours 20 minutes (MAS) * KK- kaohsiung 3 hours(MAS) Taipei and Xian will not be using 320 for AK, kaohsiung 100%, others 50:50 ***i just simply guess , dun shoot me... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites