Air Asia budget flights consortium to go global?

Malaysian airline Air Asia says it will make a "huge announcement" on Friday, amid reports it may form an alliance with the UK's Easyjet and Virgin Group. A spokeswoman for the budget airline said Malaysia's transport minister would attend the press conference in Kuala Lumpur. Her comments came after press reports said the three wanted to start low-cost flights between the UK and Asia.

Virgin would not say whether it had held talks with Air Asia. Owned by UK entrepreneur Richard Branson, it has two main airlines, London-based Virgin Atlantic and Australian low cost carrier Virgin Blue. But budget airline Easyjet says it has not discussed any alliance with Air Asia.

Air Asia's founder and chief executive Tony Fernandes has already spoken about his ambition to start long-distance, low cost services.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6224007.stm

Air Asia shares rose 7% on the Thai stock exchange today

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BBC news 24 did a piece on this. Talking about flights staring as low as ┬г46 with the average being around ┬г340 at busy times.

Wonder how much the onward leg to BKK would add to that?

[Jetsam]

Good news for Asiabus ehh... i mean Airbus :cheers:

Airbus A320 150 Firm + 50 Options, and 20 Airbus A330 + 10 Options

This came from another journal which seems to give more information:

Three of the world's best known budget airlines, including Richard Branson's Virgin, will form a Malaysia-based alliance to fly long-distance routes for cut-rate fares, a news report said today.

Branson is in discussions with AirAsia's Tony Fernandes and EasyJet's Stelios Haji-Ioannou, a Greek-British tycoon, to form what will be the world's first low-cost global network, The Star newspaper reported.

It quoted unidentified industry sources as saying that the new joint venture will first fly between Kuala Lumpur and Manchester in Britain and Amritsar in India.

Later plans are for flights to Hangzhou near Shanghai, China and Tianjin near Beijing. AirAsia spokespeople were not immediately available for comment because of a public holiday in Malaysia.

The Star, however, quoted Fernandes as saying that AirAsia, Asia's most profitable and largest no-frills carrier, is currently focused on short-haul services "where we have much work to do".

Asked specifically if a long-haul model is being contemplated, he told The Star: "Let's wait and see."

The newspaper quoted a source familiar with the discussions as saying that fares on the long-haul network will be as low as 100 ringgit ($A35) for destinations in China. Fares to Britain will be between 300 and 2,500 ringgit ($A105-$A880), about half the price of a ticket on a regular airline.

The Star quoted industry sources as saying that the alliance - if it decides to fly to London as well - could also use the Luton airport as a hub because Virgin already operates a rail link from there to central London.

It said that the alliance will give Virgin and EasyJet access to Kuala Lumpur's low-cost airport terminal, the gateway to a dream Asian hub for their Europe to Australia routes.

AirAsia, which started in 2001 with two planes, now has a fleet of 50 aircraft and flies to destinations in Southeast Asia and China. Virgin Atlantic's network covers the United States, Hong Kong, south Africa, the Caribbean and Australia.

EasyJet, which started in 1995, was one of the first low-cost carriers in the world to sell tickets on the Internet. It flies 224 routes between 67 key European airports including Britain.

It's owner Haji-Ioannou also owns budget cruise ships, hotels and car rental firms.