AirAsia to operate more flights to India

15 Feb 2009

KUALA LUMPUR: Buoyed by its successful foray into the Indian market with a direct service between Tiruchi and Kuala Lumpur, the low-cost carrier AirAsia is planning to operate service to more destinations in the country.

The airline’s service on Tiruchi-Kuala Lumpur sector has proved to be a commercial hit with the flights averaging more than 80 per cent load factor on both ways, right from the launch on December 1.

AirAsia serves the route with a 180-seater Airbus A-320 departing from the low cost carrier terminal in Kuala Lumpur.

“We are overwhelmed by the response to the service. We are considering a second frequency on the route,” Kathleen Tan, Head, Commercial, AirAsia, told visiting journalists from India and other countries recently.

Potential destinations

New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad are some of the potential destinations that the airline is looking at to introduce services, apart from a few tier-II cities. AirAsia X, a subsidiary of the AirAsia, would operate on some of these long haul sectors with flight duration of more than four hours.

The no-frills airline’s low prices have indeed become a major attraction for families to think of foreign travel. “Our success has been in making air travel affordable. Families who have never flown before are now our customers,” observed Ms.Tan.

While other low-cost airlines have struggled and held back in the wake of the global meltdown, the AirAsia has remained aggressive.

The airline operates on 110 routes already and is adding more destinations even while rapidly expanding its fleet strength.

It has developed a successful and profit-making business model through a combination of strategies to keep operational costs minimal.

Flights are served by an in-flight cabin crew of just four. They perform multi-task. They even clean up the on-flight litter to enable a quick turn around time – 25 minutes, considered one of the quickest in the industry.

Fuel efficiency is another strategic focus area. “We have taken care to see even the seat covers are light weight so as to achieve maximum fuel efficiency,” said Ms.Tan.

The airline has also invested heavily on safety and set up a training academy with an investment of $ 20 million. The AirAsia Academy, set up in association with CAE Inc. of Canada, boasts six flight simulators which replicate the normal and abnormal situations that a pilot may encounter during an actual flight.

Located adjacent to the Malaysian Airports Sepang Holding‘s engineering complex, the academy is complete with training rooms and other infrastructure to train engineers, pilots and cabin crew.

AirAsia free seats drive draws RM40mil sales

14 Feb 2009

AIRASIA Bhd’s latest free seats promotional compaign has surpassed RM40mil worth of sales so far.

Group chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes said despite the current global economic crisis there was still strong pent-up demand for budget travel going by its latest campaign.

“Last Tuesday’s record sales of 279,000 seats in a single day out of 500,000 seats promoted by AirAsia is testimony that demand for air travel remains exceptionally good if we have the right business model,” he told StarBiz in a phone interview yesterday.

The impressive sales record represented 56% of the total number of seats promoted and about 40% of the record sales were derived from AirAsia’s 500,000 free-seat promotion.

“What is more amazing is that the sales were recorded when other airlines are reporting a drop in sales and falling revenues at a time of global economic uncertainty,” Fernandes said.

There were predictions that demand for air travel would be weak this year, he said, but the company remained bullish that it would continue on its growth path via innovation, technological advances and the support of a great team of people driving the company forward.

“This ticket sales achievement comes ahead of AirAsia X’s March 11 inaugural flight to London from Kuala Lumpur – creating mounting momentum and auguring well for the airline’s future passenger load,” he noted.

Fernandes said AirAsia, which currently flies 108 routes, would continue to strive to provide more convenience for its customers, possibly at a small fee without departing from its business model, which had proven to be very successful.

“Amidst all this economic doom and gloom that we hear everyday, AirAsia is proud to be able to provide free and affordable seats to air travellers. It is interesting to know that about 60% of the seats taken up so far under this promotional compaign were by foreigners as far as Congo in Africa,” he said.

Fernandes said the fact that more ticket sales came from foreigners showed how far AirAsia’s brandname had spread and was now globally recognised, along with some of the more well-known airlines in the world.

AirAsia’s free seats are still available for travel between Oct 12, 2009 and Jan 31, 2010, and bookings can be made online at www.airasia.com.

Some of the destinations offered by AirAsia under this promotion include Gold Coast, Bali, Melbourne, Shenzhen, Siem Reap, Jakarta, Hong Kong, Singapore, Langkawi, Phuket and Perth.

AirAsia To Launch Route To Northern China

13 Feb 2009

KUALA LUMPUR, -- AirAsia will launch a new route from Kuala Lumpur to Tianjin beginning April 2.

Tianjin is located in northern China and 120km from Beijing.It is connected to the Chinese capital via a 30-minute high-speed Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Rail service.

In a statement today, AirAsia said that the new service would be operated by AirAsia X, the low cost long-haul airline, affiliated to it.

"This route is part of AirAsia's strategic expansion plan in China and East Asia, in response to strong demands from Malaysia and the greater Asean population, as well as China," said AirAsia X chief executive officer, Azran Osman-Rani.

He said that apart from benefiting tourism, the new route would further enhance business and economic ties between the region and China.

AirAsia's China network currently includes Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Guilin, Haikou, Macau and Hong Kong.

Bookings for the new route open from now until Feb 22 for travel between April 2,2009 and Jan 31, 2010.

AirAsia approached to sponsor MU jersey

KUALA LUMPUR, Sat:

Low-cost-carrier AirAsia Bhd has been approached by Manchester United (MU)to sponsor the jersey of the soccer giants.

This was revealed by AirAsia chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes in his blog on Wednesday.

"Manchester United have just approached me on whether AirAsia would be interested in becoming their shirt sponsor," said Tony in his blog.

He said having the players of the most famous soccer club in the world donning jerseys with the name and logo of a Malaysian-born global brand was something all Malaysians could be proud of.

He, however, did not state whether AirAsia would make the commitment and asked visitors to the blog to give their feedback.
As of today, 88 per cent of the visitors voiced their support.

MU had to find new sponsors for the jersey after insurance giant AIG(American International Group), who are faced with financial difficulties as a result of the world economic crisis, did not seek to renew the deal.

The four-year sponsorship contract with AIG due to expire in 2010 is reported to be worth US$100 million (RM360 million).

Earlier this year, MU was also reported to have invited India's Sahara Group to enter the sponsorship deal.

MU, who are now leading in the English Premier League, have also announced that Malaysia would be one of their destinations in the club's Asian tour this year.

Their match against a Malaysian selection is scheduled for July 26.

Now there’s no need to rush for seats on AirAsia

13 Feb 2009

KUALA LUMPUR: From Tuesday, AirAsia passengers need not rush to get a seat.

The airline has introduced its “Pick A Seat” service for all flights where every passenger would automatically be assigned a seat number when they make a booking.

Take your pick: Fernandes (seated right), AirAsia Bhd regional head of commercial Kathleen Tan, AirAsia chairman Aziz Bakar and the airline’s cabin crew introducing its latest product offering – Pick A Seat – which allows air travellers the opportunity to choose their seating arrangement for a fee.

For those who want a specific seat, they can either purchase a “hot seat” for RM25 one way or a “standard seat” for RM5.

They have the option of choosing a window or aisle seat or anywhere else.

The hot seats are those in the first five front rows and the two rows at the emergency exit. A hot seat comes automatically with express boarding facility.

The standard seat allows passengers to choose the other seats.

The Xpress boarding facility as a standalone service will be scrapped from Tuesday. Those who have already booked or paid through this facility will be given a hot seat. Those who do not like the seat assigned to them can change them.

“Passengers now have a choice on whether they want to sit by the aisle, window or anywhere else,” AirAsia group chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes said at the launch of the service yesterday.

“The days of running to the plane or pretending to be a rugby player while trying to grab a seat are over.”

He said passengers had always wanted seating options as practised by long-haul services on AirAsia X flights.

“The response has been good so far with 7,000 choice of seats booked in five days.

The service was opened for sale from Feb 5.

On the 500,000 free tickets promotion, Fernandes said the response was “fantastic” with a record 279,000 seats sold in one day despite the economic downturn.

“We will not be cutting down on our plans. We believe we have the product that people want which can bring in more tourists,” he said.

He added that the new LCCT departure terminal would be ready by March 15.

For more information, log on to www.airasia.com.

AirAsia X to lease 5 Airbus

12 Feb 2009

LONG-HAUL budget carrier AirAsia X wants to lease up to five Airbus A340-300s so it can fly to new markets in Europe and New Zealand, its chief executive said on Thursday.

'For the right price, we would like to lease five A340-300s, although they are in tight supply,' chief executive Azran Osman Rani told Dow Jones Newswires.

'Depending on the availability of the aircraft, we want to move to new markets like Germany, France and New Zealand.'

AirAsia X, the long-haul unit of Malaysia's AirAsia Bhd, currently flies to Australia's Gold Coast, Perth and Melbourne, and Hangzhou in China. It will start flying to London next month.

The carrier currently has a fleet of three A330s and one longer-range A340.

An affiliate of regional low-cost carrier AirAsia and Virgin Group, AirAsia X was launched in January 2007. AirAsia and AirAsia X have common shareholders, including AirAsia founder and CEO Tony Fernandes.

Richard Branson's Virgin Group has taken a 20 per cent stake in AirAsia X.

More airlines are opting to lease aircraft than buy them as the global economic downturn puts a squeeze on corporate finances, Singapore-based aircraft leasing firm BOC Aviation said last month.

Azran has said previously that he sees 'a lot of business opportunities' despite the deteriorating global economy.

AirAsia X said last month it hoped to launch flights to at least three destinations in Japan by year-end

AirAsia Expects LCCT Issue To Be Resolved

12 Feb 2009

AirAsia Bhd hopes that the issue over a new low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT) will be resolved soon, its group chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes said today.

"It will be resolved at some stage," he said.

"The quicker the better. We got to move. I think every effort is being made to resolve it quickly," he told reporters after launching the airline's "Pick A Seat" service here.

The government recently turned down AirAsia's proposal to build a RM1.6 billion airports in Labu, Negeri Sembilan, but the low-cost carrier managed to win some important concessions in the process, said a recent news report quoting sources.

Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) will be given the task of building a new LCCT, which will be located near the present terminal at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang, the report said.

It added that AirAsia managed to get assurance about lower airport charges and tax, which it will negotiate with MAHB, and it, will be also allowed to provide some input on the specifications for the new LCCT.

AirAsia has been complaining about the charges at the present LCCT as it argued that with less facilities available, the airport charges and tax should be much lower than those imposed at KLIA.