Low-cost carriers make travel to Australia more affordable
KUALA LUMPUR – Last Sunday Austrlia’s low-fare Jetstar’s inaugural Sydney-Kuala Lumpur flight landed at the KL International Airport, making it the first scheduled flight from Australia since 1998 when national carrier Qantas stopped flying to Malaysia.
This plus the news that AirAsia X, Malaysia’s own long-haul low-cost carrier, will be starting service to Australia soon have made many Australia-bound travellers from Malaysia a happy lot as the two LCCs offer fares not seen before in the market.
Jetstar, a wholly owned subsidiary of Qantas, is offering celebratory launch web fares via Jetstar.com from RM388 (US$110) to promote the launch of its three-times-a-week Kuala Lumpur-Sydney services.
Jetstar’s Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce that Jetstar was committed to offering “very competitive fares” on the new route.
The airline hopes to increase the Kuala Lumpur-Sydney flight to a daily service. It is also looking at the Melbourne-KL route.
Jetstar has also started flying between Osaka and Cairns four times a week, the second stage in the value-based airline’s expansion into the Kansai Region and greater western Japan.
In March, it introduced a daily service from Osaka to Brisbane/Sydney and on August 2, it started six times weekly service between Nagoya and Cairns.
The new Osaka-Cairns service represents a 30% jump in capacity for the Australian-Japan market for the Qantas group. It also makes it the sole Australian carrier servicing western Japan.
Joyce said he felt “very positively” about the airline’s performance in the market and said it had been well received by the travel industry in both Australia and Osaka.
It will introduce its future fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners late next year on its Japan routes.
Meanwhile AirAsia X, an offshoot of Asia’s biggest low-cost airline AirAsia, will take to the skies at the end of this month or early October to the Gold Coast in Australia. It will operate four times weekly on this route from the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal in Sepang. Fares will range from as low as RM90 to an average of RM1,900 return including taxes.
AirAsia Group Chief Executive Officer Dato’ Tony Fernandes said AirAsia X would initially operate with one Airbus A330, but has ordered 15 A330s with an option for 10 more. In the meantime, AirAsia Bhd’s 60-odd A320s will support the long-haul carrier’s services.
The Malaysian LCC’s subsequent destinations will Hangzhou in China, India and Northeast Asia.
Corinne Wan
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