SEPANG, Nov 3-- AirAsia X, the long-haul affiliate of low-cost airline AirAsia Bhd, plans to expand its destinations to Europe, including the United Kingdom, by March next year and also fly to 10 cities in India in the next five years.
These routes would be served by the new Airbus A330 aircraft that the carrier had ordered, said chief executive officer Azran Osman Rani.
AirAsia X has received its first 25 new Airbus A330 last Saturday, and more are scheduled to arrive from end of this year until 2013.
"There is an opportunity now to accelerate on the orders because some airlines are deferring their orders for financing reasons. If we can get the aircraft sooner, we can open up more routes faster," he told reporters after celebrating the airline's first anniversary at the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal here, Monday.
Azran said the airline aimed to cover destinations which are more than four hours in flight duration from Kuala Lumpur, completing the existing AirAsia network.
The 25 new Airbus A330 aircraft ordered by AirAsia X together with AirAsia Bhd's order of 175 aircraft were estimated at a value of about US$6.6 billion.
According to Azran, AirAsia X is confident that it will be able to source the fund to finance the order given its positive cashflow.
"We have already generate positive cashflow since April this year and this is the reason why we managed to convince the finance institution," he said.
The airline, he added, had clinched the deal to finance the first few planes and would talk with banks, both local and foreign, for the other aircraft.
In conjunction with AirAsia Xs first anniversary, the airline will be giving away free seats to all its destination, including the Gold Goast, Perth and Melbourne in Australia and Hangzhou in China.
Launched in January 2007, the company currently flies four times weekly to the Gold Coast, six times weekly to Perth and five times weekly to Hangzhou.
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