AirAsia X to Lease A343s

[Ignatius 4]

Yeah... belly so uncool.. out of cat kah?

[Kenneth Chong WT 0]

What is the rego of this new plane?? 9M-XXC?? Any idea??? The 1st 340 was called X-calibur....I wonder what the next one will be called....X-rated???

[Simon 3]

What is the rego of this new plane?? 9M-XXC?? Any idea??? The 1st 340 was called X-calibur....I wonder what the next one will be called....X-rated???

Rego should be XAC and called X-MEN

Edited May 19, 2009 by Simon

[Kenneth Chong WT 0]

Rego should be XAC and called X-MEN

 

Ahh...XAC....X-MEN...i like!!!

[Waiping 12]

Yeah... belly so uncool.. out of cat kah?

 

Cat?

[Y. J. Foo 0]

Cat?

 

Cat as in paint I suppose, not cat as in kucing :pardon:

 

I think the engines should be done black too...

[Sandeep G 1]

Oakland eh??? so does this mean a connection to San Francisco via Oakland is the targeted launch US destination?? Any insider gossip on this? - also considering the recent comments by Azran stating that they are in no rush to get A340's and want to firm up the London-Stansted Operations first.

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

Oakland eh??? so does this mean a connection to San Francisco via Oakland is the targeted launch US destination?? Any insider gossip on this? - also considering the recent comments by Azran stating that they are in no rush to get A340's and want to firm up the London-Stansted Operations first.

So far we only have this article to rely on. Hopefully those from AK/D7 can give some leads. The new US destination rumour aside, this 2nd A343 will enable D7 to provide a daily flight into STN on a preferably schedule (fixed time everyday unlike the current schedule).

 

Having the aircraft painted in Oakland Raiders colour doesn't mean that D7 must fly to Oakland, isn't it?

 

AirAsia X, the low-cost long-haul carrier, is eyeing the US market by year-end... "There has been a lot of interest from the John F. Kennedy International Airport (in New York) and airports in California have also contacted us," he said.

 

Azran said the US airport operators realised that the air-travel traffic growth was coming from Asia and the premium airlines were also cutting back on their capacity to the West Coast and East Coast of the United States... will either fly the Kuala Lumpur-Los Angeles route or Kuala Lumpur-London-New York route.

 

"If we have one plane, at most we can do is five times a week to Los Angeles. The challenge is to secure the rights from the governments," he said, adding that this would be a new market for AirAsia X.

 

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/news_lite.php?id=399578

[flee 5]

Yes, AK had the Man U logojet but still does not operate to Manchester to date! Anyway, I think that D7 is already making early linkages with the US market and a logojet is one way to go about it.

 

 

 

[Eugene Koh 4]

Don't think the painting is complete, yet to see the final version.

 

Also, do anyone here reckon the 2 leased A340-300s from Air Canada is becoz Tony got

special treatment from Air Canada CEO, Robert Milton.

 

Was told Robert have shares in AirAsia X, from a venture called Aero something!!! which has

48% stake in AirAsia X.

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

Yes he does. Here is a news article about it, which I think was published in The Star on 25 March 2008. No link is available.

 

Air Canada group chief invests in AirAsia X

By C. S. TAN

The Star

 

KUALA LUMPUR: Robert A. Milton, chairman and chief executive officer of Ace Aviation Holdings Inc, parent company of Air Canada, is an investor in AirAsia X Sdn Bhd, and advising it as it charts a course as a low-cost, long-haul carrier. Milton, who was CEO of Air Canada from 1999 to 2007, said he owned “a very small piece of Aero Ventures Sdn Bhd”, which holds a 48% stake in AirAsia X.

 

He is a founding shareholder of Aero Ventures although this was not revealed by the company until yesterday. Milton invested in his personal capacity with the approval of the Ace Aviation board. Although Air Canada is a full-service airline, Milton told the media here yesterday that he could advise AirAsia X. “I know where the pitfalls are in the long-haul business,” he said.

 

Furthermore, Air Canada is an innovative airline group. Its frequent-flyer programme, a cost centre for other airlines, was formed into the Aeroplan Income Fund and spun off and listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Aeroplan, with a market value of RM9.6bil, had a larger market cap than many airlines, he said. Ace Aviation, which owns 75% of Air Canada, holds a 20% stake in Aeroplan. Air Canada sells seats to Aeroplan, and while the banks pay the airline on day one, the points “live” for 30 months. However, 17% of that didn't get used, he said.

 

When Milton led Air Canada, he looked at ways for the 70-year-old airline to operate differently. “We pursued a low-cost approach. For our domestic routes, 65% of sales are made on the Internet. That's extraordinarily high for a full-service airline,” he said. The airline is also transparent with its charges for the choices passengers make. “If you want food, you pay for it. If you don't have check-in luggage, we give you a C$3 discount,” he added.

 

He will also be helping AirAsia X source for long-haul aircraft. AirAsia X chief executive officer Azran Osman-Rani said the airline had just one leased plane but would have three by the end of the year. These would be for regional routes and he is looking to lease an Airbus A340 for the London route.

 

Azran said he was thrilled to have Milton on board AirAsia X as the latter had so much experience for the fledgling airline to capitalise on. AirAsia X was able to make share placements at a good valuation partly because of the participation of the Virgin group and Milton, he said. “Ultimately, billions of dollars of debts will be required for aircraft financing and the banks will want to see a company that is well guided, well advised,” he added.

 

Aero Ventures' founding shareholder Datuk Tony Fernandes said he was against in-flight entertainment systems, even on long-haul flights, but after looking at how Air Canada charged for that, it was being considered. AirAsia X, which started flying last November, “is already profitable, with a net income of RM300,000 last month,” he added.

[Tom/PER 0]

Is their any chance that when D7 receive their 2nd A343 shortly that they'll also fly them to regional destinations as well as KUL-STN-KUL, or will that take up the entire daily flying of both aircraft?

 

I'm still trying to work out where the A333 capacity is going to come from to support the TPE flights..

 

 

[Raj 0]

I'm still trying to work out where the A333 capacity is going to come from to support the TPE flights..

 

STN will do daily with the 2nd A340. Also certain TPE flights will be getting the A340.

 

[flee 5]

9M-XAC has arrived at LCCT, so the daily flights to STN looks to be on schedule.

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

Yes it is. Singaporean MW member KC Sim managed to snap him (him as the aircraft is an American football player) on his homecoming journey from SIN to KUL earlier on today.

 

 

Daily flight schedule into STN fro KUL LCCT has been uploaded into www.airasia.com.

 

Flight D7 2008 departs KUL everyday at 15:35, arriving into STN at 22:00.

The return flight D7 2009 departs STN everyday at 23:05, arriving into KUL at 20:30+1.

 

No more 3 different departure times, 5 weekly service.

 

[Tom/PER 0]

Flight D7 2008 departs KUL everyday at 15:35, arriving into STN at 22:00.

The return flight D7 2009 departs STN everyday at 23:05, arriving into KUL at 20:30+1.

 

Those timings are interesting....that gives it more than enough time to operate the PER flight arriving back into KL just after midday.

 

Does anybody know what -XAC is going to do until July 1 and with the amount of time it spent it SIN did it have the new interior fitted?

 

[flee 5]

I think that D7 may wish to operate some PER flights on the A340 so that it can free up the higher capacity A333 for its more popular routes. Since we did see them doing test runs before the STN services launched, those might have been evaluation flights to determine the A340's performance envelope for that route. Flights to and from PEN merely used to assess what it takes to do quick turnaround for this big jet...

[Isaac 0]

I think that D7 may wish to operate some PER flights on the A340 so that it can free up the higher capacity A333 for its more popular routes. Since we did see them doing test runs before the STN services launched, those might have been evaluation flights to determine the A340's performance envelope for that route. Flights to and from PEN merely used to assess what it takes to do quick turnaround for this big jet...

The 333 would be more economical for a regional destination such as PER.

[flee 5]

True, provided the plane is full. If the PER route is not filling the A333's then it may be better to deploy them on more popular routes. The A343 can then be used for the PER route since its capacity is a good deal lower than the A333's.

 

Its like SQ matching demand with supply - they are now using the A380 for their HKG route. They must be confident of filling the plane up for this 3½ hour flight even though the A380 can fly many times longer than that...

[Azri M. 0]

True, provided the plane is full. If the PER route is not filling the A333's then it may be better to deploy them on more popular routes. The A343 can then be used for the PER route since its capacity is a good deal lower than the A333's.

 

Its like SQ matching demand with supply - they are now using the A380 for their HKG route. They must be confident of filling the plane up for this 3½ hour flight even though the A380 can fly many times longer than that...

I read somewhere that destination to Tianjin will soon be with A346. I'll try to find the sources.

[Tom/PER 0]

The point I was trying to make is that with TPE coming on-line from 1 July and being advertised as serviced with brand new A333's I find it hard to see how XAA, XXA and XXB will be able to cover all this flying.

 

It would make much more sense to fly the A343 to PER between their STN rotations something that with the above timings is more than possible otherwise their will be a A343 on the ground at KL between 20:30+1 and 1535 the next day everyday!

 

I can't see them going to OOL and MEL would be a bit of a stretch, so PER has gotta be the most logical place.

 

-XXC isn't due until later this year.

Edited June 12, 2009 by Tom/PER

[BC Tam 2]

..... destination to Tianjin will soon be with A346

followed by

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

The 4th leased wide body will be an A346? 9M-XAD? Wonderful news!

[Azri M. 0]

I think I might mean the current A343.

 

"AirAsia X to fly Kuala Lumpur - Tianjin with A340 instead of A330 and retimes service from Jul 1; Kuala Lumpur - Tianjin to be a red-eye flight."

http://domm2.blogspot.com/2009/06/air-news_08.html

 

Edited June 12, 2009 by Azri M.

[flee 5]

I have just checked the Tianjin flight schedules at the AirAsia website and there is indeed a change to the timetable w.e.f. 1 July 2009. TSN is a 6+ hour flight, slightly longer than the PER sector. So it is a better candidate for A343 deployment. D7's next new A333 deliveries are Sept, Oct and Dec this year.

 

I doubt D7 will be able to get hold of any A346's as none are really available. Most of the A340 family aircraft family are flying and working hard. Maybe AC might retire some of their other A343's when they get more T7's delivered.