AirAsia Sees Return To Europe, Further Route Expansion

From Samantha Tan Chiew Ting

FARNBOROUGH (London), July 16 (Bernama) — AirAsia hopes to return to Europe and expand its presence in the region amid the order of 50 A330-900neo aircraft.

Group Chief Executive Officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said the A330neo would make it possible for the airline to re-enter London and also expand its presence to other European countries like Rome.

“I love to fly back to London and with A330neo it would make it more possible,” he told reporters after a signing ceremony with Airbus on the order of 50 A330neo, here Wednesday.

AirAsia, via AirAsia X, had previously flown to Paris and London, offering connections from its Australian routes, but it halted serving these routes in 2012.

Fernandes said the A330neo aircraft gives much better fuel economy and would make AirAsia X stronger, expand the routes via its Bangalore hub to Europe and Africa, as well as, connect Japan to South America.

He said AirAsia would accelerate growth in India by adding more planes to serve new routes as soon as discussion with the Indian government conclude.

Fernandes said AirAsia would focus on Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, South India for further growth and continue to start routes from new points like Penang-Chennai and Kota Baharu-Bandung.

As for AirAsia X, Fernandes said the growth focus would be on China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Middle East and India, while A330neo could connect more routes from its hubs to around the world.

Meanwhile, AirAsia X Chief Executive Officer Azran Osman-Rani said the the airline’s core strategy was to connect Southeast Asia and to become the largest airline flying from Malaysia to China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Australia.

He said AirAsia X hoped its investment in Indonesia would be able to take off by the end of this year and be fully operational next year.

— BERNAMA

(伦敦16日讯)亚航(AIRASIA,5099,主板贸服股)通过购买新飞机重新启动並扩展欧洲航线。

亚航通过亚洲航空X(AAX,5238,主板贸服股)向空巴订购50架A330-900neo飞机。

亚洲航空集团首席执行员丹斯里东尼费南德斯在今天与空中巴士(Airbus)签署订购50架A330-900neo飞机的备忘录后向记者表示,这批新飞机让亚航有能力重新启动往返伦敦的航线,並扩展至罗马等其他欧洲城市。

亚航X在之前曾经有从澳洲往返伦敦以及巴黎的航线,但已在2012年停飞。

东尼费南德斯表示,A330neo飞机拥有更好的燃油效率,並能加强和扩展亚航X的航线,例如由班加罗尔(Bangalore)枢纽至欧洲和非洲,以及南美洲与日本之间的航线。

此外,他指出,在与当地政府商討结束后,亚航在印度將会有更多的航线和成长潜能。目前,亚航主要专注於泰国、印尼、菲律宾以及南印度的成长,並將开拓檳城至金奈以及哥打峇鲁至万隆的航线。

至於亚航X,主要成长將专注於中国、日本、韩国、澳洲、中东以及印度,尤其是在新的A330neo投入运作之后。

同时,亚航X首席执行员阿兹兰奥士曼拉尼表示,公司的核心计划是连接东南亚市场和成为从大马飞往中国、台湾、韩国、日本以及澳洲的最大航空公司。

他希望亚航X在今年能启动印尼的营运,並在明年全面投入运作。