AirAsia X Confirms New Sydney Route

Low-cost, long-haul carrier AirAsia X has confirmed it will launch daily flights between Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Sydney’s Kingsford Smith International Airport, as revealed by The HUB last week (see ‘AirAsia X and Malaysia Airlines Revise Network Strategy’). The airline will offer a daily service on the route from April 1, 2012 increasing its network in Australia to four destinations alongside existing links to Gold Coast, Melbourne and Perth.

“Our entry into Sydney is a culmination of a dream of everyone involved with AirAsia X, in particular our Group CEO, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes. Over the last four years, ‘We’ve believed the Unbelievable. Dreamt the Impossible. Never took No for an Answer’. We are finally here in Sydney and we are here to offer guests the opportunity to experience our growing network across Australia.” said a delighted Azran Osman-Rani, Chief Executive Officer, AirAsia X at the official announcement of the route from the rooftop of Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA).

The new route will be operated using an Airbus A330-300 configured with 12 Premium fly flatbed seats and 365 Economy seats and will see AirAsia X compete with partner carrier Malaysia Airlines. The national carrier currently offers a twice daily service on the route operated with Boeing 747-400s and 777-200ERs. In the past year an estimated 145,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two cities, up 28.8 per cent on the previous 12 month period. Interestingly, average fares on the route have also increased dramatically between these two periods, up 14.8 per cent to an estimated $737 each way.

The confirmation of the Sydney route follows less than a week after AirAsia X announced a revised network strategy that will result in the closure of its existing routes to Mumbai, New Delhi, London Gatwick and Paris Orly in the months ahead. The airline will instead concentrate capacity in the core markets of Australasia, China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea where the carrier intends to open up new routes and add frequencies on existing flights.

AirAsia X launched in Australia in November 2007 with Gold Coast as its first destination with services to Perth and Melbourne following a year later. The airline’s affiliate carrier Indonesia AirAsia also flies daily flights to Perth from Bali as well as offering a four times weekly link to Darwin.