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AirAsia X promotes KL-Jeddah route to Indonesians via charter contract

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Indonesians going for umroh generally booked their package through travel agents. The agents will work out which airline/routing suits best for their group of travellers. Yes, they do have flights out of Indonesia to Jeddah, even Citilink is operating Jeddah flight with tech stop at Medan and Mumbai before continuing to Jeddah. But the market is big enough for AirAsia, and even Malindo and MAS. Demand is huge, if they take the leftover they can still work it out. Nowadays i see a lot of Indonesian umroh pilgrim transiting in KUL. Some group even spent 1 or 2 nights here before continuing their journey.

Yup. I struck a conversation with a group recently. Saying they used the transit time to shop at Mitsui Outlet Park and also klia2. Some of them are really well off. Good for Malaysia

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So the move is purely to make positive impact on D7? Because i thought it'll be simpler to offer direct Route to JED from CGK. Bare in mind LI and GA have 2-3 flights daily to MED and JED for the umrah market. Doubt Indonesians would want to take extra flight to KUL just to go to JED.

 

Perhaps landing rights and the sort are issues why they didn't consider that.

 

Though honestly don't think Umrah pax care if there is a short stop in KUL.

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Why not focus connecting Indonesian cities in Sumatera such as Medan, Acheh, Palembang, Pekanbaru, Batam, Padang etc to Jeddah through KLIA2?

They are nearer to KUL compared to CGK. And AirAsia does fly to these destination from KUL

Edited by Fitri Shukri

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Why not focus connecting Indonesian cities in Sumatera such as Medan, Acheh, Palembang, Pekanbaru, Batam, Padang etc to Jeddah through KLIA2?

They are nearer to KUL compared to CGK. And AirAsia does fly to these destination from KUL

Not sure if AirAsia Malaysia/ AirAsia X can mount operation overnight into Indonesia. The MOT of Indonesia has been witch-hunting and bringing down the local airline industry.

 

AirAsia Indonesia has not been having good time with local government after QZ 8501 incident. Thus the merger with AirAsia Indonesia Extra.

 

Plus Lion Air and Garuda Indonesia are also vying for Hajj/ Umrah market.

 

Lion Air with A333/ B744 and GA with chartered B744/A333 plus their own B744 which were reconfigured with high density layout.

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So the move is purely to make positive impact on D7? Because i thought it'll be simpler to offer direct Route to JED from CGK. Bare in mind LI and GA have 2-3 flights daily to MED and JED for the umrah market. Doubt Indonesians would want to take extra flight to KUL just to go to JED.

back to 2009 when i was still working at KUL, there's a lot of Indonesian umrah pax transiting in KUL.

they fly with MAS,KU,SV. Umrah market is huge. definitely pax wont mind the extra flight.

afterall, the ticket mostly been arranged by a travel agencies.

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Umrah market is huge.

The way my office colleague described the crowds there during his trip last month, goes some way in explaining why the Saudis do not seem overly anxious about current depressed crude oil prices :)

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Could AirAsia X or MAB arrange charter flights from secondary hubs such as Kota Bharu, Johor Bahru, Penang and even Alor Star to Jeddah or Madinah?

back to 2009 when i was still working at KUL, there's a lot of Indonesian umrah pax transiting in KUL.

they fly with MAS,KU,SV. Umrah market is huge. definitely pax wont mind the extra flight.

afterall, the ticket mostly been arranged by a travel agencies.

Agree. Umrah/hajj pax hardly choose their travel agency based on what airline they will fly. Usually their selection is based on price, hotel location from the holy mosques, religious advisory services (Ustaz/Mutawwif group) and recommendations from friends/family/colleagues.

 

As for hajj, you dont get to select which airlines. Tabung Haji will allocate for you.

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