The booking period for the free seats promotion is available for 48 hours from today till tomorrow, for the travel period from October 1- November 14, 2010. Promotional seats are limited and available on first-come, first-served basis. Guests will only have to pay the Airport Tax from Kuala Lumpur to London (Stansted), China (Hangzhou, Tianjin, Chengdu), Taiwan (Taipei), and India (Mumbai, New Delhi) with an all-in fare from as low as RM 25. Other international destinations which are also offered include Australia. Guests need to only pay an all-in fare from as low as RM 52 to Gold Coast, RM 58 to Perth and RM 69 to Melbourne.
Azran Osman-Rani, Chief Executive Officer, AirAsia X said, “We are pleased to offer for the first time our free seats promotion to all our AirAsia X destinations. This promotion is the best opportunity for guests to maximise on our extensive route network to travel to more places with our low fares. From a beach getaway in Gold Coast to shopping paradises in London and Taiwan or even a scenic getaway in Hangzhou, there is always something for everyone to discover.”
Guests may also complement their travel plans with online hotel deals and tour packages via AirAsiaGo, where they may choose tours, activities and holiday lodgings from over 70,000 hotels worldwide including ground transfers. Guests can also enjoy up to 50 per cent off hotel rooms from the selected hotels of various destinations in China, Australia, Malaysia, India and many more. AirAsiaGo’s Big Savings promotion is available online at www.airasiago.com for bookings made from June 8-13, 2010 for travel from July 1-August 31, 2010.
]]>AirAsiaX chief executive Azran Osman-Rani believes the global financial crisis has provided an opening for low-cost carriers to snare business travellers seeking a better deal.
He says low-cost carriers should re-examine their models to counter-attack legacy carriers in their traditional premium strongholds rather than “play a diminishing yield game” as the traditional airlines continue to commoditise their product and more aggressively price.
The Kuala Lumpur-based carrier will be introducing lie-flat seats on one of its new planes early next year and will retrofit its five A330s and two A340s with the new product as they go in for heavy maintenance checks in the first half of the year.
It aims to use the new product to boost yields while at the same time appealing to cost-conscious business travellers by providing premium seats at about half the price charged by legacy carriers.
“Those seats are more than just symbolic,” Mr Osman-Rani told The Australian this week. “I think we’re really figuring out how we use that lie-flat bed as a product to further develop a different proposition to a different customer segment.
“So we’re bundling in more amenities and flexibility; things, for example, that business customers are more keen on — the ability to change flights at the last-minute and so forth.”
AirAsia X has seen an increase in demand out of Australia as the dollar has strengthened and this week announced it would add weekly flights to its services to Melbourne and the Gold Coast from early February. This will increase its Kuala Lumpur-Gold Coast services to daily and move Melbourne from 11 flights a week to 12.
The AirAsiaX chief said the economic downturn had meant the airline had concentrated on ramping up frequency on existing routes and with demand for the Melbourne route staying strong, he believed a further increase to double-daily was likely about the middle of next year.
He said this was better than moving to double-daily and then having to cut back as planes were taken out of service to be reconfigured.
“We’ll probably relaunch the full 14-times-weekly to Melbourne mid-year, once we’ve got all the planes fitted with the new seats, checks completed and new planes delivered,” he said.
And Mr Osman-Rani still wants to start a daily Sydney service next year. He said the airline was still having problems getting approval at the Malaysian end for the Sydney service, but he was hopeful the difficulties would be resolved.
“If we can get something by Christmas, we’ll probably try to open up for sale early in the year and start the service mid-year,” he said. “As you can see, we’re continuing to keep hammering away at Australia to keep building up our position and deliberately and consciously holding back to places like Japan and Korea, and even India, which are new markets for us. At times like this, we just decided we can’t be too adventurous.”
Asked about the economy in general, Mr Osman-Rani said AirAsiaX had seen passenger volumes being hit by both lower loads and yields in the second quarter. “Now we’re starting to see volumes come back to the 80 per cent level, but yields are still a bit soft,” he said. “I think the real test will be the school holiday season in December-January to see whether the yields will recover or not.
“And that will probably be a good gauge of whether 2010 is going to one of upswing or we’re just running out of stimulus.”
]]>The inaugural flight took off from Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) Kuala Lumpur at 09:00 and landed in Chengdu International Airport at 13:40. Mr. Azran Osman-Rani, Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia X was onboard the maiden flight with 378 guests and represented AirAsia at the momentous inaugural flight ceremony at the Chengdu International airport. Present at the function were representatives from Chengdu Tourism and Tourism Malaysia Bureau, several Hangzhou airport and government representatives, and over 80 local and foreign media members.
Azran Osman Rani said at the press conference, “With Chengdu now added on to our network, AirAsia is unlocking the potential of travel to the western territories of China and further boost our vast network in China with more than 160 flights weekly. AirAsia has already recorded an overwhelming load for the route from Kuala Lumpur to Chengdu, as the city being the capital of Sichuan Province in the People’s Republic of China has become increasingly popular among overseas visitors. We are promoting Chengdu as a gateway to Tibet, which its capital Lhasa is home to the historical center of Tibetan Buddhism and famous Potala Palace. Chengdu, well known for its interesting sites and attractions such as Wide and Narrow Cultural Street, Dujiangyan water irrigation system and Tea Houses at Chun Xi Road, the city is also well known as the home of the Giant Pandas.
“We also look forward to draw more international and regional guests to China using Kuala Lumpur as its connecting gateway. Through AirAsia’s eight major hubs (Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, Penang, Kota Kinabalu, Bangkok, Jakarta, Bali and Bandung), stretching across 20 countries and over 130 routes, we offer the most extensive route network in the region hence AirAsia guests will enjoy seamless access in the region and beyond including routes serviced by AirAsia’s long-haul affiliate, AirAsia X.”
Home to more than 10 million people, Chengdu is located in southwest China at the western edge of the Sichuan Basin and is the gateway to the Unesco World Heritage Site “Jiuzhaigou”, one of the most scenic places in China. This capital city of Sichuan province is known as one of the most important economic centers and is a major transportation and communication hub in China. Historically, it has played an important role in the political, economical, cultural, and military development of southwest China. The city is regarded as the starting point of the Southern Silk Road and is the gateway to the Tibet Autonomous Region. The surrounding region is famous for its three unique characteristics: Heavenly scenery, Bashu Culture, and home of the Giant Pandas.
The Kuala Lumpur – Chengdu route is serviced by our Airbus A330- 300, which holds 383 economy seats including 28 Premium seats which have an impressive 60-inch seat pitch. For more details on flight times and bookings, please visit www.airasia.com or mobile.airasia.com.
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