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AirAsia's latest new route, KUL - CHC

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Low-cost airlines still looking to grow

3:55AM Monday Oct 06, 2008

David Stone

 

AirAsia X, the long-haul associate of AirAsia, the region's biggest low-cost airline, is eyeing the New Zealand market.

 

Operating wide-bodied A330-300 aircraft from Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian carrier is rapidly expanding its services to Australia. Having started last year with flights to the Gold Coast, it has announced the start next month of services to Melbourne and Perth, and is now looking across the Tasman.

 

Speaking on the sidelines of the annual World Low Cost Airlines Congress in London last week, AirAsia X chief executive Azran Osman Rani said although his airline had not advertised in this country, New Zealanders were flying to the Gold Coast to connect with its flights to Kuala Lumpur. From there, AirAsia offered onward flights throughout the region.

 

He said AirAsia X had been in contact with Auckland and Christchurch airports and would consider on-flying to New Zealand once the airline had established its Melbourne service. But he also noted that with current flights from Perth - by Air New Zealand - restricted to Auckland, there was probably unmet demand for another Perth-New Zealand service.

 

Interest in the New Zealand market was also confirmed by Tony Davis, chief executive of Singapore low-cost carrier Tiger Airways. But while Malaysian carriers can take up rights to fly beyond Australia, Singapore carriers are prevented from doing so under Australian Government policy protecting Qantas from competition by Singapore Airlines on the lucrative transpacific route.

 

So while Tiger Airways has rapidly expanded its domestic services since it began operating to Australia, Davis said that the Government had so far declined to grant it "beyond rights", even if they were strictly limited to the Tasman.

 

A highlight of the London congress was a session involving leaders of three of the world's biggest low-cost carriers: Herb Kelleher, founder and executive chairman of US company South West Airlines, which pioneered the low-cost model; Tony Fernandes, chief executive of AirAsia; and Howard Millar, deputy chief executive and chief financial officer of Ryanair.

 

Kelleher noted commercial aviation was an "endemically frail industry" that faced an average of two crises a decade and had incurred a net aggregate loss since its origin. But low-cost carriers had "brought freedom to fly to the people of the world" and greatly expanded the market. In 1966 only 15 per cent of Americans had flown; now it was 85 per cent.

 

He said although the current world economic downturn was causing so-called legacy carriers - full-service airlines - to cut capacity, in general this could help the low-cost carriers, though the smaller ones faced difficulties: 29 had failed due mainly to under-capitalisation.

 

Kelleher saw the need for two longer-term moves: production of a new, small twin-jet aircraft (120-150 passengers) capable of 20 per cent greater fuel efficiency; and the reformation of air traffic control to allow more direct routes.

 

Fernandes stressed the "massive untapped market" in Asia. Air travellers had grown rapidly from around 1 per cent of the population to around 5 per cent in Thailand and Indonesia, and 15 per cent in Malaysia. He said more than half of AirAsia's routes were new and profitable.

 

He stressed the importance of marketing and innovation. After the Bali bombing, 10,000 seats were advertised free and had sold in an hour, and subsequently no Bali flights were cancelled. Nor had the tsunami deterred the carrier from opening a route to Aceh, northern Sumatra, with flights rising from three a week to daily.

 

Millar of Ryanair conceded the carrier was "not making much" at present, but though the coming winter would be tough - he expected three airlines would fail - there were still opportunities.

 

"Low fares are here to stay, and all the more desirable in times of recession."

 

But he predicted that in 10 years only three legacy airlines would be left in Europe: British Airways, Air France and Lufthansa; and just two low-cost ones: Ryanair and EasyJet.

 

Representatives of other European low-cost carriers, however, were undeterred. Flybe (Britain), Air Berlin, Clickair (Spain), Norwegian Air Shuttle, and Aer Lingus all reported profitable operations.

 

Fernandes drew attention to the tendency of legacy airlines to concentrate on the front end of the aircraft, with improvements to first class, business and premium economy sections, where yield was greatest. He speculated that perhaps the economy section would eventually disappear.

 

Just last week Air NZ announced that to meet unprecedented demand it was doubling the number of premium economy seats on its eight B777-200ER aircraft.

 

However, Air NZ also appears to be directing its attention to improving the comfort of economy passengers.

 

David Stone is an independent aviation consultant and commentator. He travelled to London courtesy of Air NZ.

 

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/ar...5532&pnum=0

 

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YES!!!!!! :yahoo:

 

Oh boy, I'm excited!! Good news indeed! I hope this will materialize soon :D

 

He said AirAsia X had been in contact with Auckland and Christchurch airports and would consider on-flying to New Zealand once the airline had established its Melbourne service. But he also noted that with current flights from Perth - by Air New Zealand - restricted to Auckland, there was probably unmet demand for another Perth-New Zealand service.

 

A possible KUL-PER-AKL/CHC, perhaps?

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AirAsia X to launch Coast to NZ route

Shannon Willoughby | January 26th, 2010

 

LOW-COST carrier AirAsia X wants to start flying direct from the Gold Coast to New Zealand this year, further cementing the Coast's position as an international hub.

 

The Kuala Lumpur carrier's chief executive Azran Osman-Rani -- in Australia for the official opening of the Gold Coast Airport yesterday -- said one of the company's 2010 objectives was to start flights to Christchurch.

 

From KL, AirAsia X's parent company AirAsia flies to about 60 destinations.

 

AirAsia X flies to China, London and the Middle East.

 

Already there are 18 flights to Auckland from the Gold Coast weekly and three to Christchurch from airlines including Jetstar, Virgin Blue and Air New Zealand.

 

Mr Osman-Rani said the upgraded airport now provided more scope for the international carrier, which flies seven days a week to KL, to increase its presence here.

 

"We have a lot more growth plans in this area," said Mr Osman-Rani.

 

"The Gold Coast works as an effective gateway and international hub," he said.

 

"We want to look at getting people flying here and then on to New Zealand.

 

"I think there can be more opportunities within that market."

 

He said the Gold Coast-New Zealand paths continued to offer strong passenger numbers -- up 51 per cent in December -- and when the company officially announced flights, airfares would be 'AirAsia style prices'.

 

"People from KL can choose to get off here or wait in the transit lounge to go to New Zealand. Gold Coasters can use us to fly over there and vice versa," he said.

He added that he wanted to work with the airport on improving check-in experiences and decrease the 'pain points' for passengers.

 

"One of the things we are looking at is how we can get the international transit to work here and decrease the pain points when arriving and departing from an airport," he said.

 

"As an airline we are doing what we can to help make it a smoother process, like online and phone check-ins. We also are working on upgrading our booking site so people can book direct from London to Christchurch or Gold Coast to Phuket.

 

"At the moment they have to make two bookings."

from http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2010/01/26/182135_gold-coast-news.html

 

Great news here! So...

- Air Asia X is going to be flying KUL-OOL-CHC! Preempting any potential KUL-BNE-CHC that MAS could launch~ On that note, currently only Jetstar and Air NZ ply the route, so there should be room for D7..

- Transit Lounge for transit pax? (or are we just talking about staying on the air-side?)

- Multi-segment flight bookings!

Edited by reyneo

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from http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2010/01/26/182135_gold-coast-news.html

 

Great news here! So...

- Air Asia X is going to be flying KUL-OOL-CHC! Preempting any potential KUL-BNE-CHC that MAS could launch~ On that note, currently only Jetstar and Air NZ ply the route, so there should be room for D7..

- Transit Lounge for transit pax? (or are we just talking about staying on the air-side?)

- Multi-segment flight bookings!

 

In August 2008 we did KUL/OOL with AKX, and then hopped over to NZ with Jetstar & Pacific Blue ( NZ tales here: http://travel.nuraina.com ). Maybe time to revisit NZ, this time all the way with AKX. :D

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Yes, D7 has been toying with the idea of one-stop flights to overcome their lack of a long range aircraft at the moment. Since D7 has increased its OOL frequency, there is some slack that can be filled. So flying on to CHC would increase the load factor. It would be interesting to see if the Aussies and NZlanders use the D7 flights. D7 is a favourite amongst Aussies to come to Asia and also to STN.

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Great news here! So...

- Air Asia X is going to be flying KUL-OOL-CHC! Preempting any potential KUL-BNE-CHC that MAS could launch~ On that note, currently only Jetstar and Air NZ ply the route, so there should be room for D7.

Exactly, they are really fast in raining on MH's parade, what a sabotage LOL! I thought AKL should be D7's first destination in New Zealand. 5th freedom right seems easily obtained for the Trans Tasman flights.

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Apparently, AA and D7's priorities lie in the India market this year. So I am not sure if this route will be launched in time to spoil MH's plans. They are still exploring because this kind of routing just makes operations more complicated and costly!

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Apparently, AA and D7's priorities lie in the India market this year. So I am not sure if this route will be launched in time to spoil MH's plans. They are still exploring because this kind of routing just makes operations more complicated and costly!

 

Well looks like they have already taken India by storm. Launching flights to Chennai from both KL and Penang and also flights to Bangalore, Hyderabad, New Delhi and Mumbai from KL.

 

AK

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Why does Amercian Airlines have to do they already have too many higher priorites than to kill MH plans.

 

D7 would also have BI,EK,QF,NZ,PB,DJ, D7 competing as do remember alot of pax on the current D7 flights come from BNE so D7 will compete with these other airlines.

 

 

Apparently, AA and D7's priorities lie in the India market this year. So I am not sure if this route will be launched in time to spoil MH's plans. They are still exploring because this kind of routing just makes operations more complicated and costly!

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Why does Amercian Airlines have to do they already have too many higher priorites than to kill MH plans.

 

D7 would also have BI,EK,QF,NZ,PB,DJ, D7 competing as do remember alot of pax on the current D7 flights come from BNE so D7 will compete with these other airlines.

 

I think what Flee meant was AK, rather than AA.

Air Asia = AA....

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Sorry! Yes, I meant to say AK. :)

 

Why does Amercian Airlines have to do they already have too many higher priorites than to kill MH plans.

 

D7 would also have BI,EK,QF,NZ,PB,DJ, D7 competing as do remember alot of pax on the current D7 flights come from BNE so D7 will compete with these other airlines.

Actually D7 would be foolish to worry about spoiling other people's plans. They should just focus on whether they can offer a viable and profitable service on the route. This is what they have done mostly on their routes. So they will only fly there if they see a reasonable chance to make money. Besides they have not yet maxed out their Australian market potential yet. But I wonder what advantages they can wring out of their alliance with JetStar should they decide to fly to CHC from OOL.

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Last I remember route-sharing between D7 and JQ has not been completely ruled out, so there's still opportunity there. If D7 does indeed utilise the A333 on OOL-CHC vv, I'm hoping for some dirt cheap fares given the spike in seat capacity on that route. Time to plan my NZ trip. LOL.

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I think if you can make your way downunder there should be plentiful of airlines flying between Australia and New Zealand so a lot depends on what AKX can do price-wise as well as service. What if you can get cheaper flight from i.e. SYD to CHC?

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IMHO, I think D7's CHC plan is a spontaneuos response to MH intention's to open 2 city in NZ.

Not really, they have been mulling on the NZ routes for some time. Their main constraint is the lack of aircraft to fly to AKL or CHC non-stop. That was why they have been thinking of a one-stop service for at least one year already because many people have been asking about them flying to NZ. So this is not spontaneous nor plucked out of the air.

 

This year, they will have another three A333's delivered - so they need to deploy the aircraft on new routes or more frequencies on existing ones. It looks like the two new routes in India have solved some of the new aircraft deployment problems. If they still cannot fly into Sydney (Malaysian govt. blocking them, no probs with Aussie govt. though) and if Japan/Korea is still blocked, then NZ is going become a more probable destination.

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^^ Just wondering, can M'sia govt block AKX from plying OOL-CHC? Say in favor of MH flying BNE-CHC? After all even if aussie govt grants them 5th freedom between Aus and NZ, M'sia still needs to grant rights to fly to NZ itself no?

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^^ Just wondering, can M'sia govt block AKX from plying OOL-CHC? Say in favor of MH flying BNE-CHC? After all even if aussie govt grants them 5th freedom between Aus and NZ, M'sia still needs to grant rights to fly to NZ itself no?

 

I don't think so.

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With JetStar operating SIN-AKL and trying to entice Malaysian pax to connect using their KUL-SIN service, this move is really an urgent defensive one. Now that they have upgraded their booking system and doing the flight transfer service, the next step is to introduce the OOL-CHC sector. It also helps that OOL airport is now upgraded to accept transit pax.

 

Looks like next year, D7 will have lotsa new destinations to fly to!

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Air Asia X announces direct flights to Christchurch from Kuala Lumpur

A team representing Christchurch and New Zealand finalised a deal this evening with the world’s fastest growing low cost carrier, Air Asia X, to bring long-haul flights direct from Kuala Lumpur to Christchurch.

 

The team included Christchurch International Airport (CIAL) CEO Jim Boult, CIAL General Manager Marketing and Business Development, Gareth Owen, Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker and Mayoress Joanna Nicholls-Parker, CEO of Tourism New Zealand, Kevin Bowler, and the New Zealand High Commissioner for Malaysia, David Kersey. They met with the owner of Air Asia X, Tony Fernandes, and his executive team to sign a deal that will bring a new airline to Christchurch with exceptionally low fares. Details of the deal will be released in the coming weeks.

 

“CIAL has been developing this opportunity over the past two years and is ecstatic that this service has now been approved,” said CIAL Chief Executive Jim Boult. “It’s the fruition of an amazing group effort and the impact of the fabulous experiences available in the South Island. The fact that we had such a strong team, including the Mayor and Mayoress of Christchurch and the head of Tourism New Zealand, showed Air Asia X how committed we are to this partnership.”

 

“This is fantastic news for Christchurch, in terms of travel and tourism,” said Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker. “We are looking at up to 70,000 more visitors a year, bringing in an estimated $70 - 80 million more to the region and creating hundreds of new jobs. Having this new airline truly positions Christchurch as New Zealand’s tourism hub.”

 

Azran Osman-Rani, Chief Executive of Air Asia X, said the choice of Christchurch as its first New Zealand port reflected its great destinational appeal. “Christchurch Airport put up a great business case for why we should come south,” he said. “We were impressed with the potential and the quality of tourism experiences available in the South Island.”

 

Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive Kevin Bowler who also attended the meeting is delighted at the news.” It’s fantastic news for New Zealand, and particularly the South Island. We are seeing fantastic demand from all parts of Asia and this decision from Air Asia X couldn’t come at a better time.”

 

Based in Malaysia, Air Asia X has been named as the world’s best long-haul low-cost carrier. With their parent company, Air Asia, they have a network of 130 routes covering 75 destinations.

 

Gareth Owen, CIAL General Manager Marketing and Business Development, said that at the beginning of the year three Air Asia X executives came to New Zealand to investigate the market here. “We took them on a whirlwind tour of the South Island that included classic experiences like white-water rafting, bungy jumping, climbing glaciers at Mt Cook, and riding on the Shotover Jet,” he said. “We were overwhelmed with support from regional tourism offices, tourism operators, local government and the whole CIAL team, ensuring every aspect of the visit went smoothly.”

 

David Mackenzie, Chairman of the Board of CIAL, believes the arrival of Air Asia X will be another leap forward for South Island tourism. “There is no doubt in my mind that the South Island of New Zealand is becoming a special destination in its own right. I think we will see more airlines such as Air Asia X bringing people in direct through the Christchurch International Airport gateway.”

 

Since being launched in 2007, Air Asia X has undergone rapid expansion, adding new routes each year.

 

The Air Asia X aircraft include some of the latest models from Airbus, including the A330-300 and A340 –300. Air Asia X has 10 Airbus aircraft with an order of 25.

 

“The additional Air Asia X flights also give Christchurch and South Island residents more travel opportunities to different parts of the world. We can expect many people to travel down from Auckland and Wellington to take advantage of these flights,” said Jim Boult. “It’s a win-win scenario. The team at Christchurch Airport is committed to this partnership with Air Asia X, and we look forward to a long and fruitful collaboration.”

 

Source: http://www.christchurchairport.co.nz/CorporateAndCommunity/MediaCentre/article-2006/air-asia-x-announces-direct-flights-to-christchurch-from-kuala-lumpur/

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Was reading the first post and didn't realize it was from January hence I got a bit confused why it said OOL-CHC.. :D

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AirAsia X to start KL-Christchurch flights

 

WELLINGTON: Malaysian long-haul budget airline Air Asia X will start flying to New Zealand early next year with direct flights from Kuala Lumpur to Christchurch, aviation officials confirmed Saturday.

 

"This is a really positive development for not only Christchurch but for the wider New Zealand economy," said Norm Thompson, deputy chief executive of the New Zealand flag carrier Air New Zealand.

 

"The South East Asian market will certainly benefit from increased competition."

 

Christchurch, the main city in New Zealand's South Island has been lobbying AirAsia X for most of the year after an airport executive saw a media report that the Malaysian carrier had New Zealand in its sights.

 

The government-owned Malaysia Airlines already flies to the main North Island city of Auckland.

 

Christchurch city mayor Bob Parker told The Press newspaper from Kuala Lumpur, where the agreement was signed on Friday, that the service would be launched about March with four return flights a week.

 

An independent assessment had shown the new service could stimulate 600-700 jobs and bring up to 70 million New Zealand dollars (52 million US) to the city, which was recently devastated by an earthquake.

 

"I think we've achieved an absolute coup for our city... we beat out Auckland, we actually beat out Sydney and it's going to revolutionise for a lot of Kiwis flying into the international marketplace because it's going to introduce incredibly low fares."

 

Christchurch International Airport chief executive Jim Boult said details of the new service would be revealed in the near future.

 

"The exact date of launch is yet to be decided but it will be around March next year and details of bookings and fare structures etc will come out in the next couple of weeks," Boult said.

 

-AFP/wk

 

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific_business/view/1090345/1/.html

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"This is a really positive development for not only Christchurch but for the wider New Zealand economy," said Norm Thompson, deputy chief executive of the New Zealand flag carrier Air New Zealand.

Magnanimous spirit of this order, you do not see very often !

 

 

 

Does A333 have the range for the KUL-CHC mission?

I have only been able to read KUL-CHC direct, nothing about it being non stop :)

Edited by BC Tam

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Does A333 have the range for the KUL-CHC mission?

Impossible with A333 but their A343 could. But IF they want to do non-stop, where the chance is very slim.

Fuming the anger with MH eh?

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