The long haul arm of Malaysia’s AirAsia Bhd plans to launch its first U.S. flights in November, with the drop in fuel prices helping revive a push into intercontinental service that the airline curtailed three years ago.
AirAsia X plans to start four weekly flights between Kuala Lumpur and Honolulu on Nov. 1, according to a regulatory filing published Monday, with a refueling stop in Osaka.
The planned service is a rare foray by a budget carrier into long haul flights, a market where no-frills service and fast aircraft turnaround times offer less of an advantage over traditional airlines than on shorter flights.
AirAsia X abandoned flights between the Malaysian capital and London and Paris in 2012 because of soaring fuel prices. It currently serves 18 cities in Asia and Australasia and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia with a fleet of 23 Airbus Group NV A330 jets.
Asia’s largest budget airline group includes three long haul affiliates based in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, with a new management team curtailing capacity growth in recent months because of overcapacity in some markets.
The planned Honolulu flights would be the first direct service between Malaysia and Hawaii. Japan remains by far the largest source of Asian visitors to the state, though that market has been pressured by the dollar’s appreciation against the yen.
Hawaiian Holdings Inc., parent of Hawaiian Airlines, has expanded its international service in recent years with services to Japan, Australia and Korea, though much of the islands’ tourists arrive on charter flights provided by a number of carriers.
Most other budget carriers have eschewed long haul flights, though Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA operates flights to the U.S. and Asia from Scandinavia and London. Ryanair Holdings PLC recently rejected speculation that it was ready to revive its long-discussed proposal to start trans-Atlantic services when it could secure appropriate aircraft.
KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia X Bhd, the leading long-haul low-fare airline, aims to spread its wings to Hawaii and an ‘exclusive’ destination in Europe by December, Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Datuk Kamarudin Meranun said.
He said AirAsia X was in the midst of working out an arrangement with a feeder airline in Europe on the ‘exclusive’ route.
“The key thing for us is to find a destination where we can also link with a good feeder airline,” he told reporters at the launch of Wisma Tune here today.
AirAsia X hopes to benefit from the feeder airline that would bring in travellers from destinations not served by large carriers to hub airports for onward journeys on national and international airlines.
The airline previously operated Airbus A340s to London and Paris, but cancelled them in 2012.
As for the Hawaii route, AirAsia Group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes was reported as saying in February that AirAsia X had started the application process to fly to Hawaii.
On financial performance, AirAsia X recorded a higher pre-tax loss of RM605.18 million last year compared with a pre-tax loss of RM212.06 million in 2013 due to higher operating expenses of RM3.32 billion for 2014, up 33.9 per cent year-on-year.
Moving forward, Kamarudin said the AirAsia X’s prospects looked promising based on initial indications such as higher bookings and yields.
“AirAsia X is no different from AirAsia because when we started AirAsia, we did not have the money and we faced competitions from stronger and financially stable airlines in the region.
“AirAsia X is facing some problems now, but its shareholders are in a much better position and the competitors are not as strong as they used to be, so there is no reason why we cannot turn the company into profitability,” he added. – Bernama