Air Asia X’s new gamble

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Air Asia X commences its five-times a week service from its hub in Kuala Lumpur to London Stansted on 11th March. This will be the first attempt at a viable long-haul low cost service between Asia and Europe since the demise of Hong Kong’s Oasis Airlines last year. Will it work this time around? Only time will tell I guess but the signs for Air Asia X are looking pretty upbeat.

courtesy of hkgspotter1

First of all, Air Asia X will be operating newer equipment (a leased A340 from Air Canada) for the service compared to Oasis’ kerosine-slurping aircraft. In addition, Air Asia X and its sister airline Air Asia already have the lowest operating costs in the world so they know what it takes to keep costs low and translate these savings into lower fares for passengers – fares from London to Kuala Lumpur start at GBP 199! The Air Asia brand is also a well-established name in Asia and Australia, and a steadily growing brand in the UK where they were a sponsor for ManUnited for several years and now adorn the sleeves of the referees in the English Premier League. Finally, Air Asia has a wide network in Southeast Asia in addition to frequent connections to East Asia and Australia. This network allows the airline to feed its service to London with passengers from neighbouring Southeast Asian countries as well as Australia – to kick start this new service, the promotional fare for the Kangaroo route (Australia-UK) is GBP 400! Conversely, Brits can fly to virtually every part of Malaysia or Southeast Asia or on to Perth, Melbourne or the Gold Coast via Air Asia’s hub in Kuala Lumpur. 

Air Asia X will utilise a leased Airbus A340 for the London-K.L. service. The aircraft has been configured to seat 286 passengers, of which 30 in its ‘XL’ Premium Economy class. Surprisingly, that’s almost 100 passengers less than it packs into its similar sized Airbus A330 planes which are used for its regional and Australia routes, implying a higher degree of passenger comfort.

Having gained significant experience in its regional long-haul routes (to China and Australia), Air Asia X now finds itself in a whole new arena. The London route is a big gamble, albeit one that’s been meticulously calculated. As long as oil prices remain at current levels, the odds are looking good for this feisty airline to succeed.

Link to airasia.com.