Air Asia X Given Long Haul Rights Malaysia-Europe

[Naim 6]

Berlin was also on the Oasis list (from HKG), and is a well served Easyjet destination (SXF)...PRG is well served by the following LCC's : SkyEurope, Easyjet, BmiBaby and Jet2...

 

Both cities are real great tourist destinations, offering lot's of history...

 

Thanks, PC. Been to Berlin (when there were still DDR & BRD, and Checkpoint Charlie). Prague and Budapest are definitely on my historical-and-cultural list.

 

[PC Yuen 0]

Berlin was also on the Oasis list (from HKG), and is a well served Easyjet destination (SXF)...PRG is well served by the following LCC's : SkyEurope, Easyjet, BmiBaby and Jet2...

 

Both cities are real great tourist destinations, offering lot's of history...

 

AirAsia X will be flying to Melbourne, Australia.

 

[Imran K. 0]

Spoke to my contact in DCA (UAE Chapter)....

 

SHARJAH is on the list! Apparently SAA (Sharjah Airport Authorities) is willing to give as many slots as they want, and with the open skies policy....they can do what Royal Brunei are currently doing by using Sharjah and Dubai as a stopover for their UK flights!

[Guest Fendy]

no MEL. FAX only got non-MAS routes.

[Sim Lim Shen 0]

Believe it or not, our airspace is actually very congested. That is why at certain times we will have to do holding patern somewhere, waiting for our turn for approach. With more traffic there will be more chance of proximity incident, or even accident.

which makes you wonder how air traffic controllers manage to handle very congested areas like the metro NY area or Metro London area. They must be under a lot of tense pressure when doing their job.

[Mushrif A 3]

Spoke to my contact in DCA (UAE Chapter)....

 

SHARJAH is on the list! Apparently SAA (Sharjah Airport Authorities) is willing to give as many slots as they want, and with the open skies policy....they can do what Royal Brunei are currently doing by using Sharjah and Dubai as a stopover for their UK flights!

 

Sharjah will probably be there, especially if AK X goes for A330-300s for the European runs. By the way, BI only stops at Sharjah on the way to JED, not to LHR (which is via DXB).

 

Flight Int'l reports that Birmingham is also on the list but the London airport has yet to be identified but probably Stansted or Luton. AK X was also reported to be launching services with 3 A330s this July. The AK management is said to be in London on Monday to announce the firming up of the 30 A320s (from the last order) plus probably 70 new options for a potential total of 100 additional A320s, but negotiations may not have concluded to also announce at the same time the order for A330s for AK X.

Edited January 5, 2007 by mushrif a

[Keith T 2]

no MEL. FAX only got non-MAS routes.

 

Wouldn't that exclude most of the major Australian cities?

Or maybe they're planning to land in Avalon?

[Azri M. 0]

Wouldn't that exclude most of the major Australian cities?

Or maybe they're planning to land in Avalon?

 

Jetstar will not allow that easily. Jetstar plans to become a sole user of Avalon Airport. But we'll see what will happen. Tony Fernandes gets whatever he wants.

[Seng Lim 0]

Both Mel & Syd can be categorised as SouthEastern Cities in Australia. Hope they will fly to both cities.

[Alan B. 5]

I will wait and see what AK X has in store for us. All I can say is good luck to Tony...thank you for dreaming! Because when he dreams of taking AK around the world, we poor people get to fly around the world

 

I now need to learn yoga so that I can wrap myself into a cramp seat with no leg room for 12hours

[Radzi 2]

Remember DVT?

[Lawrence L 0]

Deep Vein T....

 

Walk around the cabin n then the cabin will be congested... Hehe...

[Seng Lim 0]

the anti DVT sock might be useful. Not sure still available in the market or since the DVT issues has cold down and most people has forgotten about DVT already.

[Seng Lim 0]

http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2007/...it+unveils.html

 

Some interesting details from flightglobal (full articles on above link):

AirAsia X is poised to take the A330-300 for its launch in July. The carrier, which is being set up by AirAsia chief executive Tony Fernandes and several of his associates, plans to launch in July with three leased aircraft and have the purchased aircraft arrive later

 

He says the Malaysian government has granted AirAsia X traffic rights to Birmingham and Manchester, and that it was looking at granting rights to London.

[Pieter C. 5]

TF has very ambitious plans indeed...

 

Both MAN and BHX are slotted airports, so surprised he secured slots already...

 

Only STN and LTN are still available for slots; he can forget LGW/LHR as extremely difficult/costly to obtain

[haansel 0]

yes Air Asia did tell the price to london one way is RM9.99 .but there is a catch there.

1.u must apply the seat frm the internet.

2.u must be the first one out of what 2,000,000 people.

3.there is maby only 1 seat worth RM9.99.

4.the next ten seats will be aroud RM 180 and so on and so forth.

 

The flight to Penang. Air asia said that the price was about RM4.50(correct me if i m wrong)

well did any of u got that price to go to penang?

 

Out of 2,000,000 above travelers only about 2% may get the the RM4.50 seat.

so think properly.

 

another one is u r going on a 12 hours flight (if nonstop) ,i m sure u will have to eat on bord rite?

well u have to buy from the airline .1 nasi lemak will b worth about what RM10.00++.if u take this airline be prepaird to bring some sleeping tablets.maby use full.

 

Air Asia also states that they will stop over at dubai.the food in the airport there is worth 2 times of the nasi lemak on bord though the Nasi Beriani is so so so goood(personal experiants).for my opinion air asi may get an airbus 330-300 cause 330-300 cant go far up to turkey for what i think .so u need to refuel cause the lode on the flight is going to b full.MAS going to cry teruk.Un less the airline wants to get passengers frm dubai i dont think they will get a 777-300ER maby just a 777-300.well i dont realy know about their plan on how or what they r planning to get.this is what i can get so understand la.

[haansel 0]

well Air Asia said also that they r going o open a new class called upper economi class (correct me if i m wrong)

.In this u get larger seats but service is still same food cost more then RM10.00 Sometimes .More on Virgin Atlantic behaviour. Thats how Virgin came into a nother Singapore Airlines in UK.I also heard rumors that Air Asia is also joining with Virgin.Yes they did get Austrilian and New Zealand routs.i dont know wich part but thats what i heard well so long 4 now.

[Gavin Andrew David 6]

I am kind of surprise it is not Air Asia, but FAX, that is getting the budget long haul rights.

 

Aviation Industry , and Politics ......

There's more to whats going on here compared to what meets our eyes and ears .

Think of it this way , The government already grant them permission to fly long haul BEFORE they announced that they are gonig to fly long haul ... err . okay ?

[Norman 1]

Politics or not... it less than RM10 to Manchester now....

but bring your own nasi lemak & mp4 player...

 

The Star

[Gavin Andrew David 6]

Politics or not... it less than RM10 to Manchester now....

but bring your own nasi lemak & mp4 player...

 

Well said . Still can go there and click . After all as passengers .

 

We don't need to be bothered about who is making money or who is fighting for the cheapest fares because with competition , comes benefits for passengers

 

AFAIK the 777-300ER ( if they get it that is ) should definitely come with PTV right ?

 

But they could ditch that to save space and weight and tambah more seats ..

 

 

[Naim 6]

I am kind of surprise it is not Air Asia, but FAX, that is getting the budget long haul rights. It would seem to me there is a major service sector gap between rural air service and long haul air service. Won't Air Asia be better prepared to handle the long haul sector?

 

Sim, you may find the answer in this good write-up.

 

From Asia Times

6 Jan 2007

 

AirAsia aims to X long-haul rivals

By David Fullbrook

 

Tony Fernandes, the flamboyant founder of Malaysia's low-cost airline

AirAsia, is set to launch his fifth airline this July with the aim of

introducing cheap-ticket competition to the long-haul market now

dominated by state-controlled Malaysia Airlines. Formally announced on

Friday, the new carrier, AirAsia X, also aims to poach passengers from

other Southeast Asian long-haul carriers and could eventually alter

the economics of the region's broad aviation industry.

 

AirAsia X will fly routes longer than four hours to places in Asia,

Australia and Europe, starting with the United Kingdom and the

Chinese cities of Guangzhou and Tianjin. AirAsia X is expected to

order up to 20 wide-body Airbus A330s or Boeing 777s this month and

will commence services with two to three aircraft. Boeing's 777 is fit

to carry more passengers and cargo over longer distances than Airbus's

A330, but the latter is cheaper to lease or buy.

 

Fernandes made his name by introducing to Malaysia five years ago the

showy no-frills type of airline pioneered by America's Southwest and

later EasyJet and Ryanair in Europe using narrow-body airliners such

as Airbus's A320 and Boeing's 737. Ticket prices rise as takeoff dates

draw near, often on par with incumbent full-service carriers, but most

fares are significantly less, for the first time bringing air travel

within the budget of the country's middle and lower classes.

 

Fernandes is a rabid adherent to the low-cost business model, which

aims to cut every cost without compromising safety and squeeze

efficiencies by training staff to do many different jobs. Low-cost,

no-frills flights have thrived on short-haul routes in the

deregulated, open skies of Europe, India, Indonesia and North America.

 

Many analysts and airline executives are skeptical that the same model

will work on long-haul routes, partly because for trips longer than

four hours cost advantages are eroded and indeed may be even more

expensive than full-service airlines flying wide-body aircraft. "They

will save on other things such as using secondary airports. However,

faster turnarounds deliver very little benefit on long-haul routes,

unlike short-haul services," said an aviation analyst in Kuala Lumpur.

 

Qantas Airways, a full-service Australian airline, had a go this

decade when it started Australian Airlines, which aimed for low costs

while offering some frills, but it fared poorly. Its long-haul

services were recently relaunched under the Jetstar brand, Qantas'

short-haul no-frills carrier that operates in Australia and Singapore.

Last year, Oasis began services from Hong Kong to London's Gatwick

Airport applying the low-cost, no-frills philosophy. It is still

flying, but whether it is at a loss is unclear because the carrier is

privately owned.

 

High-flying ambitions

Enter AirAsia X into the competitive picture. Fernandes owns half,

Kamarudin Meranum, executive director of AirAsia, holds 30%, and Raja

Azmi, AirAsia's former chief financial officer the rest of the

carrier's shares. They will use their AirAsia experience to ensure

that AirAsia X is a lean and efficient operation that exploits the

Internet and the latest airline-management systems. They are

ambitiously aiming for costs of 1.9 US cents per seat-kilometer flown.

 

Even if they fall short of such a slim target, AirAsia X will have a

substantially lower cost base than the notoriously inefficient

Malaysia Airlines (MAS). AirAsia X's costs should also be lower than

both Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways, the two major Southeast

Asian long-haul carriers.

 

FlyAsianExpress, or FAX, another airline started in recent years by

Fernandes, is licensing the AirAsia brand from AirAsia and will

operate the AirAsia X services. FAX now serves routes to remote towns

and villages on the Malaysian part of the island of Borneo under

contract with AirAsia. Licensing the brand to FAX avoids mucking up

AirAsia's balance sheet or upsetting shareholders because AirAsia X is

clearly a riskier business bet. Startup costs will be higher than

those of a short-haul carrier because it is using larger aircraft, and

losses incurred while recouping initial investments will likely be

higher than for short-haul carriers.

 

AirAsia X's official launch did not go into details about the

carrier's planned on-board service. Some changes to the short-haul

product will probably be necessary because flights will be up to 12

hours in duration. Legroom, which is tight on short-haul no-frills

carriers, will likely match economy class on other long-haul carriers.

Business class is probably out, which makes operations simpler and

therefore cheaper.

 

AirAsia X could provide meals, but given Fernandes' low-cost zeal, it

is more likely to sell a wide range of food, drinks and entertainment

when services take off in July. AirAsia typically charges three to

five times the price on the ground for in-flight food and services,

which accounts for 12% of the carrier's revenues. AirAsia X then will

likely be a sort of flying mall compared with AirAsia's flying corner

shop.

 

Ancillary income is particularly important because profits of AirAsia

Group, listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange, have been thin,

paling beside those earned by Southwest and Ryanair. Between July and

September 2006, the first quarter of AirAsia's financial year,

unaudited profits after tax, financing and depreciation were a meager

RM5.7 million (US$1.6 million) from revenues of RM239.6 million.

Profit for that same period in 2005 was RM8.7 million on revenue of

RM186.3 million.

 

It is still early days in Southeast Asia, where international flights

and airline ownership are heavily regulated. Most no-frills carriers

in Europe and North America started only after regulators cleared the

skies of red tape. Southeast Asia's market has a long way to grow as

it remains an overwhelmingly poor, developing neighborhood, whose

economies are on average expanding at double the rate of Europe.

AirAsia is a chance to buy in early, which is why fund managers hold

big chunks of stock.

 

AirAsia X's fortunes, however, may not necessarily mirror those of

AirAsia. For starters, AirAsia X will be reaching into developed

markets. For another, its bigger jets may earn significantly higher

revenue from cargo than AirAsia, which could prove to be more

important than ancillary sales. Taiwan's EVA Air and Korean Air, for

instance, earn at least 40% of their revenue from cargo. The new

budget carrier can already tap into the brand recognition generated by

AirAsia's sponsorship of Britain's Manchester United, arguably the

world's most famous soccer club.

 

None of this bodes well for MAS, which at last finally began to turn

around under a new chief executive. But its comparatively high costs

and inefficiency will leave it hard pressed to match AirAsia X prices

and still turn a profit, meaning losses and route cuts could be in the

cards. AirAsia X will almost certainly fly to airports near many of

the big cities MAS serves, with its UK flight likely to land either in

Luton, home of EasyJet, or Manchester.

 

AirAsia's fast-growing regional network will provide more and more

connections to feed traffic in and out of Southeast Asia's big cities

and potentially into AirAsia X. That is surely a threat to Thai

Airways because its passengers are overwhelmingly tourists, who tend

to pick low ticket price over service. Singapore Air is less at risk

because it is renowned for its high-end service and tends more to

business travelers.

 

"I certainly think it's a very good idea, looking at the

macro-picture, improving the connectivity they already have in ASEAN

[Association of Southeast Asian Nations]and bringing passengers over

from Europe and the Far East," said an aviation analyst in Kuala

Lumpur.

 

And while countless others will doubtless pour cold water on AirAsia

X's prospects, if anybody can pull it off it is most likely the

enterprising Fernandes and his trusted management team. One thing is

certain: the traveling public will be cheering him on.

 

http://www.atimes.com

[T Azahan 1]

malaysia boleh!!!!

[Andrew Ong 1]

AFAIK the 777-300ER ( if they get it that is ) should definitely come with PTV right ?

 

Let's hope so

 

[Norman 1]

AFAIK the 777-300ER ( if they get it that is ) should definitely come with PTV right ?

 

Since report said that you have to pay extra for entertainment,

probably you've to swipe the creditcard to switch it on?...

or/and rent the headphone?

 

BTW.... why -300ER when they planned for Mid-East stop on-route to UK??

[Seth K 3]

I read the star it states that AK X leasing 3 A330 for test flights. As low as 9.99, on the bright side, last it will cost at least MYR400++ plus ringgit/pound taxes, but heck, still cheap!!!! Any one Manchester this summer??

Edited January 6, 2007 by Seth K