AirAsia move to Avalon Airport from Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport

[Yu Junyi 0]

Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2018/02/04/airasia-announces-move-to-avalon-airport-from-melbourne-tullamarine-airport/

 

PETALING JAYA: AirAsia has announced its move to Avalon Airport from Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport, making AirAsia the first international carrier to operate out of Avalon Airport.

In a statement on Sunday, AirAsia said that flights will continue to operate from Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport until flights from Avalon Airport are operational later this year.

"We are proud to be the first airline to operate international flights at Avalon Airport, connecting Melbourne and the Victorian region with Kuala Lumpur, Asia's number one LCC hub," said AirAsia X Malaysia CEO Benyamin Ismail.

"Melbourne and Victoria are important markets to us and this new service with 560,000 seats annually will provide a significant boost to business and tourism, including to such attractions as the Great Ocean Road," he said.

Avalon Airport is located near the city of Geelong, and is 50 minutes away from Melbourne CBD. It is also the closest airport to the internationally renowned Great Ocean Road.

"This is an exciting milestone for AirAsia X. Since our inaugural flight in 2007, AirAsia X has flown over 30 million guests, including 6.1 million Australians – tourists wanting to experience amazing Australia, students from across the globe and Australians who wish to see the world," said AirAsia Group chief executive Tan Sri Tony Fernandes.

"We are proud to renew our commitment to making air travel affordable for Australians with this move to Avalon, which will help us maintain our cost edge and allow us to continue offering low fares to Asean, Asia and beyond," said Fernandes.

Avalon Airport CEO Justin Giddings said that Avalon Airport is easily accessible from Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat and surrounding areas.

"Low-cost flights combined with an easy airport experience makes for the perfect partnership. We're extremely pleased to welcome AirAsia to Avalon Airport," said Giddings.

AirAsia X Malaysia will operate twice daily flights. A total of 500,000 international passengers are projected to move through Avalon Airport in the first year of operations.

The announcement was made at an industry event at Avalon Airport on Sunday with special guests including Fernandes, Benyamin, Giddings, Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, Linfox founder Lindsay Fox AC, Linfox Airports executive chairman David Fox, Australian Industry and Employment Minister Ben Carroll, and local television personality Catriona Rowntree as master of ceremonies.

Any thoughts on this? There is only one airline (JetStar) operating domestic routes at Avalon.

Edited February 4, 2018 by Yu Junyi

[affendi osman 0]

That's faaaaaaaar from the city

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

The news as reported from the Australian side:

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-04/avalon-airport-to-get-international-services-to-kuala-lumpur/9386336

[KK Lee 5]

That's faaaaaaaar from the city

 

According to uncle google; from Avalon airport to Melbourne CBD is about the same distance as from KLIA to KLCC.

[Mohd Suhaimi Fariz 2]

Based on AU-MY bilaterals Avalon is not subject to capacity limits the way MEL is.

 

Could that be the reason for the move? Although to be honest even with MH's services it's still not even close to reaching the capacity limits.

[flee 5]

Based on AU-MY bilaterals Avalon is not subject to capacity limits the way MEL is.

 

Could that be the reason for the move? Although to be honest even with MH's services it's still not even close to reaching the capacity limits.

I would imagine that there are incentives from the Victoria state government and tourism authorities. Bottom line cost would be reduced. They get free publicity in the Aussie media as a friend of the Australian govt. etc. etc.

 

They have also mentioned that Thai and Indonesia Airasia X will fly there too. I also won't rule out more trans Tasman services from this lower cost launching point. Also, there is no curfew - very important for fleet utilisation.

[Kris Kim 0]

The deal is for 10 years, I wonder if the numbers will stake up for D7, but if they can get XT and XJ onboard too, they can have a nice little operation out of AVV. Maybe launch a domestic operation, Air Asia Australia to feed all 3 carriers?

[leon t 0]

believed when Air Asia first few to Mel some years back it was to Avalon.

[jahur 0]

Taxi's and limited schedule busses are available just hope there's no landing odd hours arriving there.

[Craig 0]

Based on AU-MY bilaterals Avalon is not subject to capacity limits the way MEL is.

 

Could that be the reason for the move? Although to be honest even with MH's services it's still not even close to reaching the capacity limits.

 

Probably not. D7 reduced its flights to SYD/PER but they didn't file for additional seats to MEL.

 

Also, as of 15AUG17, there were only 88 seats left per week under the current bilateral between MY and AU. However, this doesn't take into account:

- D7 flight reductions to SYD and PER

- D7 planned services to BNE (applied for, received the rights but didn't utilize)

- MH daily 333 service to PER (which will be replaced by 11 weekly 738 services)

- MH 4 new weekly 333 BNE flights

- OD planned daily 333 service to MEL (which will? be replaced by daily 738/739 KUL-DPS-MEL)

Edited February 5, 2018 by Craig

[Mohd Suhaimi Fariz 2]

 

Probably not. D7 reduced its flights to SYD/PER but they didn't file for additional seats to MEL.

 

Also, as of 15AUG17, there were only 88 seats left per week under the current bilateral between MY and AU. However, this doesn't take into account:

- D7 flight reductions to SYD and PER

- D7 planned services to BNE (applied for, received the rights but didn't utilize)

- MH daily 333 service to PER (which will be replaced by 11 weekly 738 services)

- MH 4 new weekly 333 BNE flights

- OD planned daily 333 service to MEL (which will? be replaced by daily 738/739 KUL-DPS-MEL)

 

Is the 33,000 weekly seat capacity is for SYD, PER, BNE & MEL combined? I thought it was for each airport.

[Craig 0]

 

Is the 33,000 weekly seat capacity is for SYD, PER, BNE & MEL combined? I thought it was for each airport.

Combined. Otherwise there's no way we'd get close and have to renegotiate every now and then. 33,000 seats to one city is a lot. I don't even know if SIN-SYD/MEL gets close to that amount for either SG/AU carriers.

Edited February 5, 2018 by Craig

[leon t 0]

Combined. Otherwise there's no way we'd get close and have to renegotiate every now and then. 33,000 seats to one city is a lot. I don't even know if SIN-SYD/MEL gets close to that amount for either SG/AU carriers.

believed SIA alone can easily exceed and over and above the amount of seats as SQ flies to Mel 4 times daily and 5 times daily to SYD and this excludes SQ flyging to other Aust cities like to Brisbane, Perth, Canberra etc. And this excludes Qantas and Emirates flights from SIN to Aust.

[Mohd Suhaimi Fariz 2]

believed SIA alone can easily exceed and over and above the amount of seats as SQ flies to Mel 4 times daily and 5 times daily to SYD and this excludes SQ flyging to other Aust cities like to Brisbane, Perth, Canberra etc. And this excludes Qantas and Emirates flights from SIN to Aust.

Different markets, different demands

[Craig 0]

believed SIA alone can easily exceed and over and above the amount of seats as SQ flies to Mel 4 times daily and 5 times daily to SYD and this excludes SQ flyging to other Aust cities like to Brisbane, Perth, Canberra etc. And this excludes Qantas and Emirates flights from SIN to Aust.

No SQ doesn't even come close. I was talking about 33,000 seats to ONE city in any given week from a country's carrier(s).

 

Let's do simple maths, shall we?

Given: 33,000 seats per week from a country's carrier(s)

Assumption: 500 seats in 380, 7 weekly services

Total daily flights = 33,000 / 500 / 7 ~ 9.5 daily 380 services between SIN and ONE city in AU (or 66 weekly 380 services to ONE city).

 

SQ plus other SG-based carriers (Scoot comes to mind) doesn't even come close to 33k seats a week.

Edited February 5, 2018 by Craig

[S V Choong 4]

Nope, I wont be flying into woop woop. Domestic flight are okay but still a bit far. As far as public transport is concerned, Avalon is pretty horrible.

 

Looks like they will only be able to capture patronage from West and South West of Melbourne. For North, East and South East, Tullamarine is more accessible.

[Waiping 12]

Avalon is the site for Australian International Air show. Maybe can do like Langkawi. Go in early, snap-snap, fly back.

[Waiping 12]

[Josh T 0]

Avalon is a crappy airport. I wouldn't want to fly there!

[Kee Hooi Yen 0]

For AirAsia I believe anything that could bring down the cost is more important. I would not be surprised when Sydney second airport is ready, AirAsia might move there instead of current SYD Kingsford Smith Airport for lower cost and even for its odd hours (curfew free).

 

From memory there is no onsite airport control tower in AVV. All the traffics to/from AVV are controlled remotely. Not sure if this has changed

[Kris Kim 0]

D7 have applied for x4 more weekly flights on the MEL-KUL route during busy periods in July and September.

 

Those pax who are booking with D7 might be in for a rude shock when they realised that they booked for flights departing/arriving at AVV, imagine those with tickets connecting onwards to domestic flights! As the airline has not yet given an exact date, besides "late 2018" IMHO its poor form to be selling tickets advertised as MEL - Tullamarine. Call it a hunch, but I don't think D7 will last 2 years at AVV, they will likely have a spit operation with x2 daily going back to MEL, and possibly a daily flight out of AVV (or less, something like x4 weekly)

 

Just because the cost of operating at AVV is cheaper, does not mean that pax will simply follow, JQ always has the cheapest fares exAVV, yet people rather pay that little extra to fly exMEL instead. JQ, TR, OD and MH must be very happy with this announcement, its a win win for JQ either way.

[flee 5]

Melbourne Avalon Airport: AirAsia X to spike new growth phase

 

Summary:

• Avalon Airport has attracted its first international airline, AirAsia X, which will launch services from Kuala Lumpur later this year.
• The airport aims to attract AirAsia X services from Indonesia and Thailand in future, as well as other international airlines.
• Avalon Airport has only handled domestic passengers since Jetstar launched operations in 2004.
• Avalon Airport is keen to grow domestic traffic by attracting other domestic airlines, such as Tigerair Australia.

Read here:

https://centreforaviation.com/insights/analysis/melbourne-avalon-airport-airasia-x-to-spike-new-growth-phase-404720

[xtemujin 0]

AirAsia becomes first international airline to operate at Melbourne’s Avalon Airport

05 Dec 2018 10:22AM

(Updated: 05 Dec 2018 10:41AM)

AVALON, Australia: AirAsia became the first airline to touch down at Melbourne’s newly opened international airport at Avalon on Wednesday (Dec 5) morning.

It also marked the launch of the first international service by the low-cost carrier to and from Victoria’s second airport, located 40km southwest of Melbourne.

With the start of flights to Avalon Airport, AirAsia will cease operating from the city's main airport at Tullamarine.

AirAsia X Malaysia CEO Benyamin Ismail said the inaugural flight to Avalon sealed a 10-year deal between the airline and Melbourne’s Avalon Airport, built with an about RM150 million (US$36 million) investment by the airport operator and the Australian and Victorian governments near the City of Geelong.

Operated by AirAsia’s long-haul affiliate, AirAsia X, Flight D7218 touched down at 8.20am local time with an 80 per cent load factor.

“This purpose-built no-frills facility has today become one of the most important international hubs AirAsia flies to outside of Southeast Asia,” Benyamin said.

He added the airline aims to fly 500,000 passengers annually via this route.

"AirAsia will operate 28 flights per week between Kuala Lumpur and Melbourne Avalon. We aim to increase our load factor from 80 per cent (at Melbourne Tullamarine Airport) to 85 per cent via this new airport next year, " he said.

According to Benyamin, the long-term deal provides lower operating costs for AirAsia, will increase passenger volumes, non-aeronautical revenue for Avalon Airport and ultimately an opportunity for millions of people to fly affordably.

"AirAsia guests who fly to Melbourne Avalon will benefit from a range of ‘Avalon Advantages’ including cheaper parking, no Tullamarine freeway tolls, convenient access to Melbourne city centre via SkyBus, new airport infrastructure and a hassle-free arrival and departure process,” he added.

He said the airline also plans to fly to Avalon from Bangkok and Bali in the near future.

Also present at the launch were Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia Andrew Goledzinowski AM, Group CEO AirAsia X, Nadda Buranasiri, Executive Chairman Linfox Airports, David Fox and CEO Avalon Airport, Justin Giddings.

To celebrate the inaugural flight, AirAsia has launched a Welcome to Melbourne Avalon Sale with promotional fares (until Dec 9) starting from RM499 each way between Melbourne Avalon/Kuala Lumpur and Kuala Lumpur/Melbourne Avalon for travel now through to May 2019.

In Australia, AirAsia also operates services between Kuala Lumpur and Perth, Sydney and the Gold Coast.

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/airasia-first-airline-to-operate-avalon-airport-melbourne-10998202

Edited December 5, 2018 by xtemujin

[Jeremiah Wong 0]

Many big shots onboard.

[flee 5]

AirAsia becomes first airline to touch down at Melbourne’s second international airport - Avalon

 

https://newsroom.airasia.com/news/2018/12/5/airasia-becomes-first-airline-to-touch-down-at-melbournes-second-international-airport-avalon