AirAsia X To Finalise Leasing Of Another A340 By End-march

LONDON,- AirAsia X, an affiliate of low-cost carrier AirAsia Bhd, is in advanced negotiations to lease another Airbus A340 in order to increase its frequency of the just-launched Kuala Lumpur-London route.

"We want to have the KL-London route on a daily basis from July onwards," said AirAsia X's chief executive officer, Azran Osman Rani.

Launched yesterday with the inaugural flight from KLIA to Stansted Airport outside London, the company would mount five direct flights per week.



He said after a six-year lease of the aircraft model, the airline might consider buying the next generation Airbus A350 for its long haul services.

"The A350 is still at the design stage, we will wait for it to be more at the advanced stage before deciding," he told Malaysian media on board the KL-London inaugural flight.

Stansted Airport is Britain's third busiest airport, with 22.8 million passengers passing through and many leading low-cost airlines making it their base.

In London, the passengers were received by the Duke of York, Prince Andrew, AirAsia Bhd's chief executive officer, Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes, British Airports Authority (BAA) managing director Steward Wingate and BAA's commercial and development director Nick Barton.

AirAsia X, also aims to expand into to Central and Eastern Europe, said Azran.

"Countries like Russia and Poland are emerging markets, it will be interesting to tap into it," he said, adding that, Germany and Italy could also be attractive destinations.

However, for now, AirAsia X will concentrate on London and add another route only next year, he said.

Despite the economic downturn, AirAsia X remained upbeat about the aviation industry as there was still a lot of demand in what he said was relatively an untapped market.

"It is easier to take up market share when we go into the market at a time when other airlines are cutting back," he said.

Although the low-cost carrier might see a decline in certain segments of passenger traffic as they can't afford to travel anymore, it was gaining from the business segment.

"A lot of companies that are on cost cutting measures choose to travel with low-cost carriers," he said.

AirAsia X has also benefited from airline companies cancelling some of their aircraft purchases.

"We only had two slots for 2009 for the A330 that was ordered but because some airline companies cancelled their orders we got a third slot in Sept 2009, which means we will receive our new aircraft faster," he said.

The airline would want to expand its destinations from five now to 11 by the end of this year, possibly to Sydney, New Delhi, Chengdu and the Middle East.

"I just came back from Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Things are promising. We have to finalise discussions with the airports," he said.