Air Asia X Low cost flights to Europe, China and India soon

With acknowledgement to White Desire who's post Cheap Flights 2 cover this article. I think that this exciting news needs to be more prominent with London - KL flights from US$80!

"Long-haul budget airline unveiled - BBC News

Malaysian aviation tycoon Tony Fernandes has unveiled a new no-frills long-haul airline, Air Asia X. The venture - a tie-up between Air Asia and Fly Asian Express (FAX) - will launch in July and fly to destinations in India, China and Europe. The new airline aims to carry half a million passengers in its first year, Mr Fernandes said.

Air Asia X will also link up with other low-cost carriers to boost its connectivity and flights network. Earlier this week, media reports had suggested the firm was hoping to form alliances with UK no-frills carrier Easyjet and Richard Branson's airline Virgin. The two companies later denied the reports.

"Air Asia X's network will cover destinations which are more than four hours in flight duration from Kuala Lumpur, offering daily point-to-point frequencies to popular destinations in China, India and Europe," Air Asia and FAX said in a statement. The two are working to put together a fleet of up to 20 aircraft for Air Asia X.

Cheap flights Mr Fernandes told the BBC that Air Asia X flights to London would be priced from $80 to $450 (┬г41 to ┬г231) return. He is the majority shareholder in FAX and the man behind Air Asia, which he turned into the most profitable low-cost carrier in Malaysia after he bought it as a bankrupt company in 2001. FAX is a small airline covering remote routes in Malaysia. Air Asia, which started with two planes, now has a fleet of 50 aircraft and flies to destinations in South East Asia and China.

The airline also plans to significantly increase its own fleet of aircraft. Air Asia has ordered 100 A320 planes from Airbus and could now double that order, deputy chief executive Kamarudin Meranun said. The group is expected to finalise its fleet expansion plan by the end of the month."

BBC NEWS

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Problem is - when they say London it will most likely mean Luton Or Stanstead. LHR & Gatwicks taxes would kill their prices even if those airports would give them stands.

I hope they do mean Luton as I only live ten minutes away but i wonder what the seat pitch will be on their planes as I dont fancy 12 plus hours crammed in a small seat.

[Carnarvon-old]

"but i wonder what the seat pitch will be on their planes" : try Oasis then. business class at low prices...

If Mr. Fernandes isn't having success speaking to Mr. Haji-Ioannou, Mr. Branson or even Mr. Ryan, there is little to stop him flying into the places they have virtually turned into their hubs.

Whilst General Motors fleet of private jets are regular long haul users of Luton, I'm not sure that the place can cope with 747s.

Stansted has lang syne done so and has one of the longest runways in the UK. AA used to fly out of there. It's also very convenient to use with a 1 hour fast rail to Liverpool Street and being on a motorway.

Don't expect the budget airlines ever to transfer baggage from flight to flight. Essentially they save costs by viewing passengers as self-loading cargo.

I just flew back from somewhere in Asia in a seat next to a passenger who'd bought three tickets for his family at over ┬г5000 return each. I'd paid a lot less.

You've actually cut and paste the actual contents of the link I posted. Good to see it in detail though.

Mind you .....

Oasis is another no frills airline which has been set up from London to Hong Kong which is supposedly cheap, however, when searching their website, I don't see, what I would call cheap flights, in fact, at certain times of the year, you probably could get deals on the scheduled airlines. I suspect there is about 3 or 4 seats at a really cheap price. Lets see how it goes!

"Long-haul budget airline unveiled - BBC News

Malaysian aviation tycoon Tony Fernandes has unveiled a new no-frills long-haul airline, Air Asia X. The venture - a tie-up between Air Asia and Fly Asian Express (FAX) - will launch in July and fly to destinations in India, China and Europe. The new airline aims to carry half a million passengers in its first year, Mr Fernandes said.

Air Asia X will also link up with other low-cost carriers to boost its connectivity and flights network. Earlier this week, media reports had suggested the firm was hoping to form alliances with UK no-frills carrier Easyjet and Richard Branson's airline Virgin. The two companies later denied the reports.

"Air Asia X's network will cover destinations which are more than four hours in flight duration from Kuala Lumpur, offering daily point-to-point frequencies to popular destinations in China, India and Europe," Air Asia and FAX said in a statement. The two are working to put together a fleet of up to 20 aircraft for Air Asia X.

Cheap flights Mr Fernandes told the BBC that Air Asia X flights to London would be priced from $80 to $450 (┬г41 to ┬г231) return. He is the majority shareholder in FAX and the man behind Air Asia, which he turned into the most profitable low-cost carrier in Malaysia after he bought it as a bankrupt company in 2001. FAX is a small airline covering remote routes in Malaysia. Air Asia, which started with two planes, now has a fleet of 50 aircraft and flies to destinations in South East Asia and China.

The airline also plans to significantly increase its own fleet of aircraft. Air Asia has ordered 100 A320 planes from Airbus and could now double that order, deputy chief executive Kamarudin Meranun said. The group is expected to finalise its fleet expansion plan by the end of the month."

BBC NEWS

This raises numerous questions, amongst which are:
1. Which UK airport will be used?

2. What does the fare include - i.e. are refreshments/food paid for on-board as extras?

3. Will there be premium economy or business class or just economy class. Also, as mentioned by others, seat pitch is important for a long haul flight. Budget airlines have a philosophy of packing in as many passengers as they can, to recoup costs and offset the lower fares, therefore seat pitch is as little as they can legally get away with.

4. What type of aircraft will be used?
(The reference to the A320 is misleading and it is unlikely that this will be the type of aircraft in use. If it is, the aircraft has limited passenger capacity (150) and does not have the range to fly UK to Thailand/Malaysia non-stop, thereby requiring a refuelling stopover on the way. It's maximum cruising speed is also slow - 487 Knots - therefore the journey time would certainly be several hours longer than the current 11 hours for a 747-400 or 777).

5. No mention is made of Thailand. Why fly in discomfort to Kuala Lumpur and then have the inconvenience of transferring and another two hour flight to Bangkok?. As NorthStar pointed out, budget airlines seldom transfer baggage between flights meaning that you would have to collect them from the first flight and then check them in again for the second flight.

IMHO the service provided by budget airlines is barely acceptable even for short haul flights. It is likely to be totally unacceptable for long haul.
I am also uncomfortable with the reputation of Asian budget airlines for maintenance and safety. There have been several plane crashes recently all belonging to Asian budget airlines. Also Phuket Air did not enhance the reputation of Asian airlines on European routes.

In the end, you get what you pay for and I would rather pay the extra for some peace of mind even if this peace may be purely an illusion!

"Long-haul budget airline unveiled - BBC News

Malaysian aviation tycoon Tony Fernandes has unveiled a new no-frills long-haul airline, Air Asia X. The venture - a tie-up between Air Asia and Fly Asian Express (FAX) - will launch in July and fly to destinations in India, China and Europe. The new airline aims to carry half a million passengers in its first year, Mr Fernandes said.

Air Asia X will also link up with other low-cost carriers to boost its connectivity and flights network. Earlier this week, media reports had suggested the firm was hoping to form alliances with UK no-frills carrier Easyjet and Richard Branson's airline Virgin. The two companies later denied the reports.

"Air Asia X's network will cover destinations which are more than four hours in flight duration from Kuala Lumpur, offering daily point-to-point frequencies to popular destinations in China, India and Europe," Air Asia and FAX said in a statement. The two are working to put together a fleet of up to 20 aircraft for Air Asia X.

Cheap flights Mr Fernandes told the BBC that Air Asia X flights to London would be priced from $80 to $450 (┬г41 to ┬г231) return. He is the majority shareholder in FAX and the man behind Air Asia, which he turned into the most profitable low-cost carrier in Malaysia after he bought it as a bankrupt company in 2001. FAX is a small airline covering remote routes in Malaysia. Air Asia, which started with two planes, now has a fleet of 50 aircraft and flies to destinations in South East Asia and China.

The airline also plans to significantly increase its own fleet of aircraft. Air Asia has ordered 100 A320 planes from Airbus and could now double that order, deputy chief executive Kamarudin Meranun said. The group is expected to finalise its fleet expansion plan by the end of the month."

BBC NEWS

This raises numerous questions, amongst which are:
1. Which UK airport will be used?

2. What does the fare include - i.e. are refreshments/food paid for on-board as extras?

3. Will there be premium economy or business class or just economy class. Also, as mentioned by others, seat pitch is important for a long haul flight. Budget airlines have a philosophy of packing in as many passengers as they can, to recoup costs and offset the lower fares, therefore seat pitch is as little as they can legally get away with.

4. What type of aircraft will be used?
(The reference to the A320 is misleading and it is unlikely that this will be the type of aircraft in use. If it is, the aircraft has limited passenger capacity (150) and does not have the range to fly UK to Thailand/Malaysia non-stop, thereby requiring a refuelling stopover on the way. It's maximum cruising speed is also slow - 487 Knots - therefore the journey time would certainly be several hours longer than the current 11 hours for a 747-400 or 777).

5. No mention is made of Thailand. Why fly in discomfort to Kuala Lumpur and then have the inconvenience of transferring and another two hour flight to Bangkok?. As NorthStar pointed out, budget airlines seldom transfer baggage between flights meaning that you would have to collect them from the first flight and then check them in again for the second flight.

IMHO the service provided by budget airlines is barely acceptable even for short haul flights. It is likely to be totally unacceptable for long haul.
I am also uncomfortable with the reputation of Asian budget airlines for maintenance and safety. There have been several plane crashes recently all belonging to Asian budget airlines. Also Phuket Air did not enhance the reputation of Asian airlines on European routes.

In the end, you get what you pay for and I would rather pay the extra for some peace of mind even if this peace may be purely an illusion!

Detailed questions there Buaseng:

1) In the news thread London was quoted, Heathrow was said to be expensive in an earlier report, so probably Stanstead or Gatwick. In earlier reports Manchester was not ruled out.

2) No frills airline fares include nothing, food is extra, even baggage over a certain weight has to be paid by the kilo. Ryan air are charging people for excess hand luggage now.

3) The news thread (or one of them) said they would have seats with extra legroom. Oasis the London-HK no frills airline has business class.

4) Don't know

5) The flight path is Air Asia's route from Kuala Lumpur to India to Heathrow, according to the news thread. I suspect inter connections will be available, i.e. KL to BKK or wherever.

With regard to the rest of your thread, I think you have to read and get information about their "record" etc etc. From my experience, Air Asia is not a bad airline, in fact, quite reputable for a no frills airline.

Detailed questions there Buaseng:

1) In the news thread London was quoted, Heathrow was said to be expensive in an earlier report, so probably Stanstead or Gatwick. In earlier reports Manchester was not ruled out.

2) No frills airline fares include nothing, food is extra, even baggage over a certain weight has to be paid by the kilo. Ryan air are charging people for excess hand luggage now.

3) The news thread (or one of them) said they would have seats with extra legroom. Oasis the London-HK no frills airline has business class.

4) Don't know

5) The flight path is Air Asia's route from Kuala Lumpur to India to Heathrow, according to the news thread. I suspect inter connections will be available, i.e. KL to BKK or wherever.

With regard to the rest of your thread, I think you have to read and get information about their "record" etc etc. From my experience, Air Asia is not a bad airline, in fact, quite reputable for a no frills airline, but certainly need to be checked out. There is a list of airlines created by the EU somewhere probably you can find it on the internet.