Airasia X Eyes US Market By Year-end

27 March 2009

SEPANG -- AirAsia X, the low-cost long-haul carrier, is eyeing the US market by year-end following its successful launch of the Kuala Lumpur-London route, chief executive officer Azran Osman Rani said today.

"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.

AirAsia X, which has already finalised the leasing of its second A340-300 from Air Canada, will either fly the Kuala Lumpur-Los Angeles route or Kuala Lumpur-London-New York route, he told reporters after AirAsia Academy's graduation ceremony here.

"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.

On the Middle East, Azran said the possibility of the airline flying there could also materialise within this year.