A ‘high day’ for AirAsia X - Approval to Beijing, Osaka, Shanghai, Jeddah and Istanbul

[flee 5]

Funny how D7 is choosing to go after all MH destinations. They are obviously too lazy to do any promotional work for new destinations and bear the start-up costs because new destinations will always lose money first. CHC, STN and ORY come to mind...

MH does not have a monopoly of destinations and there is nothing wrong in D7 trying to fly this route, just like it tried to do the KUL-TEH route before the wild currency fluctuations made it economically non viable.

 

CHC, STN, LGW and ORY only proves that D7 is prepared to pioneer routes. Unfortunately circumstances like high fuel prices and unsuitable aircraft put paid to those routes. OOL has also proved that D7 will invest and stay on their pioneering route if it is economically viable.

 

Tell one company in the world who wants to do 'lose money' business.

Only Malaysian GLCs with a bottomless pit of taxpayers' and EPF contributors' cash to bail them out!

[Walter Sim 1]

Only Malaysian GLCs with a bottomless pit of taxpayers' and EPF contributors' cash to bail them out!

 

Ahhh! Thanks for reminding flee.

[flee 5]

KUALA LUMPUR: Long-haul low-fare airline AirAsia X is looking at double-digit growth in 2013 and 2014 in revenue and passenger volume, supported by fleet expansion.

 

Chief executive officer Azran Osman-Rani was confident of the revenue and passenger volume growth, with the two components being proportionate to the number of planes the airline will have.

 

“We're getting seven more planes this year and seven more next year, so there's a significant double-digit growth this year and an even higher percentage in 2014,” he said. Currently, AirAsia X has 11 aircraft.

 

With the new low-cost carrier terminal KLIA2 opening in May, he foresaw a significant boost to AirAsia X, especially where reaping the benefits of having more interconnectivity at the terminal is concerned.

 

“In 2011, 45% of our business was from connecting passengers and we expect this percentage to grow as KLIA2 offers more connectivity,” he said at the launch of AirAsia X's new route from Kuala Lumpur to Jeddah.

 

Co-founder Datuk Kamarudin Meranun told the media after the launch that the Middle East was a market to look at due to liquidity, as evidenced by the growing global sukuk market.

 

“That's a market we cannot ignore although our focus is still on Asia. Jeddah is the best place to try out the Middle East market without incurring too high a risk,” he said, adding that AirAsia X could explore expanding into other destinations within that region.

 

On sister-company AirAsia Bhd's reported launch of an Indian airline, Kamarudin said the group was always looking for opportunities all around Asia.

 

“We had a team that visited India and are seriously looking to start something, given that India is a market we know,” he said, adding that if anything came out of it, the focus would be on the south of India.

 

However, he declined to comment on Tune Insurance Bhd updates other than that its listing process was on track for the end-February target.

 

The Kuala Lumpur-Jeddah route is the 14th destination in AirAsia X's network and the only one to the Middle East at the moment. It is expected to carry 50,000 passengers in the first twelve months of operation and contribute between RM8mil and RM10mil in revenue in 2013.

 

Azran said the route would not form the biggest revenue chunk of AirAsia X but flights to Saudi Arabia were expected to make up about 5% of its business this year.

 

“We have three flights per week to Jeddah at the moment but in May, we will add a fourth one when the new aircraft come in,” Azran said of the service that will commence on Feb 16.

 

He added that AirAsia X would not hesitate to open up more flights to Jeddah if the demand was encouraging, noting that demand was not only from Malaysia but from Indonesia as well. Saudi Arabia, incidentally, only liberalised its airways two years ago.

 

Source: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2013/1/18/business/12593394&sec=business

[flee 5]

Azran: klia2 will be significant boost to AirAsia X

 

KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia X Bhd expects the operation of klia2 in June to drive a double digit growth for the airline in terms of revenue and passenger volume in 2013, said CEO Azran Osman-Rani.

The long-haul budget carrier, which was loss-making in June last year, is hopeful of a turnaround as it operates from klia2.

“I think klia2 will be a significant boost to AirAsia X, as we will be the only airline that is able to take passengers to destinations as far as Saudi Arabia through klia2,” Azran said at the launch of the airline’s new route to Jeddah from its Kuala Lumpur hub.

The new layout of klia2 is said to contribute to more connecting options and passengers for AirAsia X. In 2011, 45% of AirAsia X’s travellers were connecting passengers whereby klia2 is expected to provide the company with significant growth.

“We expect the percentage to continue to grow as klia2 offers more connectivity and for this percentage to be even higher in 2014,” said Azran, noting that the company is adding seven more planes this year and seven next year.

For its new route to Jeddah from Kuala Lumpur, AirAsia X targets about 50,000 passengers within the first 12 months of operation.

AirAsia X will introduce three flights weekly to King Abdul Aziz International Airport from Feb 16, and increase to four flights weekly from May 1.

The KL-Jeddah route is not expected to contribute largely to AirAsia X’s passenger volume or revenue this year.

“The flight is only four times a week thus we would expect this route to contribute about 5% to our
overall business for this year,” said Azran.

The KL-Jeddah route is AirAsia X’s 14th and the company expects to launch three more routes this
year.

These additional routes will be based on AirAsia X’s core expansion in 2013 and 2014 and is within the company’s operations in Australia, China, South Korea and Japan.

Nevertheless, AirAsia X sees long-term potential in the Middle East with a population of 300 million.
“We want to start off with Jeddah and hopefully we can start exploring other destinations within the Middle East region,” said Azran.

AirAsia X is awaiting approval from the Securities Commission Malaysia for its listing.

“We are waiting for approval and we have yet to submit our 2012 financial results as that is to be the key marketing feature,” said Azran.

AirAsia X is offering 790.12 million shares or 33.3% of its enlarged share capital in its planned IPO, according to its draft prospectus.

The company, to be listed on the Main Market, will be Malaysia’s next high profile listing.

Reuters reported that the IPO is expected to raise about US$250 million (RM755 million) for AirAsia X.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on Jan 18, 2013.