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Syukri

Thai AirAsia X

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From my experience with D7 on AUS-KUL, many pax are on connecting to Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. Some are foreign tourists to these countries and some are resident of these countries.

In the early days of D7, when there was no fly thru service, the adventurous people of Oz did self connects. Then, the Airasia sale usually takes place before the D7 sale. The Aussies would speculatively book the Airasia sectors first (because they were zero fares) and then wait for the D7 sale to get their Australia to KL tickets. Their main point is that they can now afford a foreign holiday for the price of a local holiday.

 

To what extent Thai AAX will cannibalise D7's business will be interesting. Wtih Thai AAX, there will not longer be a need to fly, e.g. SYD-KUL-DMK as they can now fly SYD-DMK direct. Will that be serious enough to slow D7's growth?

 

I think that MAHB has forced D7's hand. With klia2 severly delayed, D7 has no choice but to send its planes to hubs other than KUL. The decision to setup Thai AAX was probably accelerated due to this delay.

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AirAsia X to take on Jetstar on Thailand flights
Long-haul low-cost flying into and out of will start to gear up early next year when AirAsia X, which currently serves the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur twice daily from Melbourne and 12 times a week from Sydney, starts flying non-stop to Bangkok, Thailand.
The long-haul arm of AirAsia is about to begin stage two of its development, where it opens up medium and long-haul services to the hubs of the parent’s short-haul regional affiliates in south-east Asia.
Operationally piggy-backing on top of the AirAsia parent, AirAsiaX now has five Australian A330-300 destinations after beginning an initial four flights a week from Kuala Lumpur to Adelaide last Friday. That is expected rise to daily by the end of next year. AirAsia X also flies to the Gold Coast and Perth.
From Kuala Lumpur, the airline flies to a further 13 cities: Taipei, Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), Male (Maldives), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Kathmandu (Nepal), Tokyo and Osaka (Japan), Seoul and Busan (South Korea) and Chengdu, Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou (China).
The strategy now is to begin joining more of the dots. From early 2014, AirAsia X will initially base two 377-seat A330 widebody jets at Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport – the Thai AirAsia base at the Thai capital’s old international airport, which has been superseded by Suvarnabhumi airport.
Thai AirAsia now has about a quarter of the AirAsia group’s fleet of 180-seat A320s flying to domestic and nearby international cities from Don Mueang airport, after switching from Suvarnabhumi a year ago.
AirAsia X boss Azran Osman-Rani is foxing about which of the existing dots will be joined from Bangkok, but he has already told the aviation trade media it will be a total of three destinations – one or two in Australia with one or two in China and north Asia.

 

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How 'early' in 2014 can they start operation? NokScoot is entering the foray.

 

I hope DMK-HND/NRT is one of the planned 3 routes (I am not sure about the slot issues with HND from DMK). This will give them an edge over NokScoot.

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How 'early' in 2014 can they start operation? NokScoot is entering the foray.

 

I hope DMK-HND/NRT is one of the planned 3 routes (I am not sure about the slot issues with HND from DMK). This will give them an edge over NokScoot.

I think Thai AirAsia X can start operation as soon as they get green light from Thai government. AirAsia X has been building up their A333s fleet over the past few months with ex-KA and ex-Batavia jets. Not to forget their two A343s still on lease. Won't be surprised if they start their operation in 1Q 2014.

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Yes, Thai AAX should start operations within the next one or two months. I suspect NokScoot to only commence in Q4 2014.

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I am not sure if it is - in the past TF expressed his admiration for SQ and how he wanted the Airasia group to emulate the efficiency of the SQ operations. Now, he is telling us the wants the Airasia group to be the LCC version of Emirates and dominate the world! Looks like his ambition has changed!

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SQ is slipping into oblivion in face of Middle East Big 3 slowly.......But a lot of people have different opinions on this. Since EK continues to dominate the aviation scene, I am not surprised TF changed his views to become LCC version of EK.

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I think EK has served more destination than any other airlines ever could, and served more destination using A380 than any other airlines could!

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IMHO although the ME3 have frequency, I am not sure about the their inflight service.

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IMHO although the ME3 have frequency, I am not sure about the their inflight service.

 

With the exception of 10 abreast 777 else is superior than MH.

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First A330-300 delivered to Thai AirAsia X in preparation for launch

 

15-Jan-2014 Thai AirAsia X (Bangkok Don Mueang) has taken delivery of its first A330-300 HS-XTA (cn 662) earlier on January 15 at Bangkok Don Mueang.

The aircraft transferred from parent carrier AirAsia X (D7, Kuala Lumpur Int'l) will likely be used for the certification process ahead of the launch of proposed long-haul operations from Bangkok Don Mueang to destinations in North Asia, Australia and Europe.

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cn 662 is the former B-HWG.

 

1987683.jpg

 

I think the rest of the newly leased ex Dragon Air A333s are destined for Thai AirAsia X too.

 

Does anyone knows what is the IATA code for the airline?

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9M-XXL and 9M-XXM had been transferred. I do hope they are launching service after the protest in Thailand has died down. Now it is not really the good timing.

 

Meanwhile AirAsia X is running a well-oiled machine, knowing the impending launching and grab hold as many A333 RR Trent 700 powered as possible. Left with B-HWI (cn 716) to be delivered as 9M-XXQ.

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btw guys.. with leased aircraft.. does D7 actually refurbish the interior with new seats/IFE etc? or do they use back the same ones that are already fitted on previous airline?

The six A333s leased from ILFC will feature the standard D7 3-3-3 cabin with 12 angled lie flat premium seats..

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btw guys.. with leased aircraft.. does D7 actually refurbish the interior with new seats/IFE etc? or do they use back the same ones that are already fitted on previous airline?

 

 

The six A333s leased from ILFC will feature the standard D7 3-3-3 cabin with 12 angled lie flat premium seats..

Affirmative. The aircraft are stripped off all KA interior at Xiamen Gaoqi Taikoo Maintenance Centre and painted there. It will then flew to Singapore to be fitted with D7 interior of 3-3-3 Y class and 2-2-2 Premium class.

 

The only way to tell the difference between the owned and leased are the instrument layout in cockpit and ex-KA planes' butt are not painted with AirAsia signature (i.e. the APU is all white).

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The only way to tell the difference between the owned and leased are the instrument layout in cockpit and ex-KA planes' butt are not painted with AirAsia signature (i.e. the APU is all white).

 

APU as in the auxiliary powering unit? Didn't realize that there's branding there! :D

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AirAsia's Long-Haul Thailand Affiliate Gets Nod to Start Flights

 

Malaysian long-haul budget carrier AirAsia X Bhd. (5238.KU) said Tuesday that its affiliate in Thailand has received permission to start flights.

Thai AirAsia X received its Air Operator's Certificate from the Department of Civil Aviation of Thailand on Monday, the Kuala Lumpur-listed airline said in a statement.
AirAsia X, the long-haul affiliate of AirAsia Bhd., flies Airbus A330 wide-body jets to destinations in Australia, Japan and China that are between four and eight hours of flying time from its base in the Malaysian capital.
Thai AirAsia X will lease two Airbus A330-300s with 377 seats each in its first year of operation and will start services from Don Mueang airport in Bangkok after it gets operating permits and slots, it said.

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Pretty impressive Thai AirAsia can maintain their load factor at 84% in last quarter 2013 despite the political upheaval. In addition, 400k short of 10 million pax target. Now we can see both NokScoot and Thai AirAsia X competing who will start earlier. It does seems like NokScoot has the upper hand for now.

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