AirAsiaX in new Australia link
KUALA LUMPUR – AirAsiaX will launch services to Perth in Western Australia in November this year.
It will start with six return flights per week and is planning to increase to daily return flights by March 2009.
However, AirAsia’s group chief executive Tony Fernandes criticised MAS for copying the budget carrier’s everyday low fares policy, saying it was unclear how badly Air Asia would be hit by it.
“The government will never allow MAS to fail but a private company? Who is going to save us,” Fernandes told the New Straits Times.
“I’m not against competition but it has to be a level playing field. You can’t send me into a boxing match with one hand tied behind my back,” he said referring to a subsidy the government provides only to MAS for some of its international flights.
The new AirAsiaX route to Perth will be serviced by the airline’s new wide-bodied Airbus A330 aircraft, “giving passengers a level of service not normally expected from low cost airlines”, said an AirAsiaX spokesman.
This is the airline’s third destination, following its launch to Hangzhou, China in February this year with five return flights per week, and Gold Coast, Australia in November last year with four return flights.
The airline says initial seat prices will be $99, enough to cover taxes and the fuel surcharge.
Ian Jarrett
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