AirAsia is preparing to establish a hub on the Malaysian island of Langkawi following a landmark deal which has resulted in a 70% reduction in charges – an indicator of the high importance placed on charges by the AirAsia group. Langkawi will become Malaysia AirAsia’s sixth hub as services to Guangzhou and Hong Kong are launched.
Several other new international destinations are expected including Bangkok under a plan which will see at least five A320s based in Langkawi by 2020. Langkawi currently only has regular international services to Singapore.
The new Langkawi hub is part of an overall strategy by the AirAsia Group to focus growth on secondary airports. At the group’s original Malaysian subsidiary several new domestic and international routes from secondary hubs are planned for the next year despite a significant slowdown in fleet growth.
AirAsia initially announced plans in Mar-2015 to establish its sixth hub at Langkawi Airport. AirAsia has not yet set a launch date or begun tickets sales for any new Langkawi route. But AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes told the 15-Sep-2015 CAPA LCC Airports Congress in Bangkok that MAA is now working to launch flights from Langkawi to Guangzhou and Hong Kong as a deal to reduce airports charges by about 70% has just been concluded.
Mr Fernandes added that AirAsia also aims to launch services in the coming years from Langkawi to Bangkok and five other international destinations – routes that would not have been viable without the reduction in charges. AirAsia has been fighting for lower airport charges at Langkawi for several years, believing the resort island had huge potential and with lower airport charges could narrow the gap with the nearby Thai island of Phuket. “By reducing the charges we invest, we’re able to stimulate new routes and an airport that was really earning no income is now going to earn a tremendous amount of income,” Mr Fernandes said.
Ms Omar said the new Langkawi-Guangzhou and Langkawi-Hong Kong routes will initially be operated using A320s from existing bases. But over time AirAsia plans to start basing aircraft and crews at Langkawi with the expectation of basing five A320s at Langkawi within five years.
AirAsia has not yet set a launch date for Langkawi to Guangzhou or Hong Kong. Both routes are currently only available via Kuala Lumpur and are among 10 destinations in Greater China (including Hong Kong and Macau) that are now available from Langkawi using AirAsia’s Fly-Thru product. AirAsia currently operates 102 weekly flights from Langkawi including 77 to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), 14 to Penang, seven to Singapore and four to Kuching.