Malaysia based LCC AirAsia has ambitious plans to establish a Gulf airport hub giving it a stepping stone to resume European flights again after a long gap.
It is eyeing one stop flights to London Gatwick among other major cities.
AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes said talks were held with government officials from some Gulf states recently.
“From there, Europe is a shorter distance. We can then start looking at those kinds of exciting, longer-haul fares, and start taking people around the world through a one-stop and multi-hop strategy,” he told the Financial Times.
The airline has tried nonstop flights to Europe a couple of times such as London and Paris but found it difficult to maintain due to high costs.
Costs are a major factor in Asia with rival Jetstar Asia recently announcing it will shut down soon.
“I think destinations that decide that they’re premium are missing out on a big market. We’re going back to the Ryanair strategy of looking at alternative airports to serve those markets,” Fernandes added.
AirAsia currently only has about 8% of its passenger traffic taking connecting flights.
It hopes to significantly grow this.
“Airlines such as ours have just been point to point, but a shift could be a very, very profitable part of the business for us,” he added.
