MELBOURNE: AirAsia X’s inaugural flight from Kuala Lumpur to Victoria, Australia, touched down at Melbourne Airport today - launching what the carrier describes as "a new era of international air travel" between the two destinations.
The inaugural flight used a new wide-bodied Airbus A330-300, which provides passengers with a level of service AirAsia X says passengers do not normally expect from low-cost airlines.
AirAsia X will service the route between Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur initially with four return flights per week. The airline has announced plans to upgrade this schedule to daily return flights during the peak season from 18 December to 16 January. Daily return flights will then commence from March 2009.
AirAsia X now actively services three Australian destinations - Melbourne, Perth (six weekly return flights) and the Gold Coast (four weekly return flights). The airline also operates five return flights each week between Kuala Lumpur and Hangzhou (Shanghai) in China.
AirAsia X CEO Azran Osman-Rani was accompanied on today’s historical flight by a number of AirAsia X board members, VIPs, as well as Malaysian Secretary General, Ministry of Transport, Dato’ Zakaria Bahari, and AirAsia X Chairman Dato’ Seri Kalimullah bin Masheerul Hassan.
Osman-Rani said the airline was thrilled to have successfully expanded its growing network to Victoria.
“After months of planning it is very exciting to see our well known red and white logo out on the tarmac,” Osman-Rani said. “We’re expecting this route to perform strongly as it is one of the most requested Australian destinations from our Malaysian guests and we know Melbourne travellers are keen to have regular, affordable travel options to Malaysia.
“Since commencing sales in September 2007 we have sold over 400,000 Air Asia X seats to date on our route network and over 60,000 between Melbourne – KL, which is the highest performing new route.
“Kuala Lumpur - Melbourne is an under-served route and one which is plagued by exorbitant fuel surcharges imposed by full service carriers. There is definitely a huge gap in this particular market for affordable travel. An increasing number of passengers need to use this route on a regular basis for leisure, education and family travel purposes and it’s great to know we can meet their needs with a service that offers value and reliability.”
Osman-Rani said that the arrival of AirAsia X in Melbourne was the culmination of a collaborative effort between the airline, the Victorian Government, Melbourne Airport and industry and was pleased with the endeavour shown to make the introduction of the service a success.
The success of AirAsia X rides on the back of affiliate AirAsia’s leading regional network in Southeast Asia and China. AirAsia has over 105 routes to 60 destinations and the highest daily frequencies to most Asian cities.
Passengers travelling with AirAsia X will enjoy latest technology fixed-backshell seats with sleek black leather upholstery, in-flight entertainment featuring innovative content and applications and Wi-Fi access.
Last week the airline celebrated its first birthday since commencing flight operations to the Gold Coast on November 4, 2007. In late October it was the recipient of the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) Best New Airline of the Year Award 2008 bestowed at the CAPA Aviation Awards for Excellence held in Singapore.
AirAsia X showed it is at the forefront of the aviation industry this year by being the first airline in the Asia-Pacific region to sign up with ecommerce company PayPal for purchases of airfares and gift vouchers.
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