Eric C 0 Report post Posted October 31, 2007 fresh news, hot off the press ********************************************************** AirAsia X gets flight clearance http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?f...mp;sec=business It will fly to Gold Coast tomorrow after getting nod from Australia By B.K. SIDHU PETALING JAYA: It is all systems go for AirAsia X’s inaugural flight to Gold Coast tomorrow now that the airline has obtained the much awaited final approval. The nod to fly Down Under, including an international licence, came from the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) early yesterday, two days ahead of the maiden flight. Getting the clearance from Australia had not been easy for AirAsia X as the country has very high safety and operational standards for airlines. “We are ready to fly on Nov 2 as we have managed to get the international licence from CASA in record time, even though the processes were tedious,” said Azran Osman Rani, chief executive officer of AirAsia X. “The load factor for our first flight is 96%, of which 90% are paying passengers,” he told StarBiz. This is a major coup for AsiaAsia X since, in recent times, several airlines, including Viva Macau, did not get their licences on time. AirAsia X is Malaysia’s only low-cost long-haul carrier that received the Air Operator’s Certification from the Department of Civil Aviation in early October. While waiting for the approvals, AirAsia X had begun selling seats to Gold Coast and, thus far, had over 20,000 confirmed bookings worth RM15mil, Azran said. AirAsia’s maiden flight to the Gold Coast will take off at 9.40pm from the low-cost carrier terminal and arrive at its destination at 7.45am on Saturday. This, in itself, is a major milestone in Malaysia’s aviation as for the first time a low-cost carrier is going long haul. The landscape will surely change and passengers can only hope to pay cheaper fares as competition drives prices down, at least on the KL-Gold Coast sector for now. AirAsia X will ply the route four times weekly using its newly-refurbished Airbus A330-300 aircraft. The aircraft can seat 315 passengers – 279 in the economy class and 36 in the business or “premium XL’’ class. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rozhan 0 Report post Posted November 1, 2007 Congrats to AKX! Anyone going to the official send-off ceremony, please snap some pics of the celebrations. A new era of long haul travel for Malaysia has come. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Edwin P K 0 Report post Posted November 1, 2007 Excellent! Gday, OOL! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ignatius 4 Report post Posted November 1, 2007 AirAsia’s maiden flight to the Gold Coast will take off at 9.40pm from the low-cost carrier terminal and arrive at its destination at 7.45am on Saturday. Why is the etd from LCC and eta at gold coast taking 10Hrs of total flight time???? Flying xtra time in the air kah??? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Edwin P K 0 Report post Posted November 1, 2007 7.45am, local aussie time ma! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
