#AK/D7/FD/QZ/PQ/JW | AirAsia Bhd / AirAsia X / Thai AirAsia / Indonesia AirAsia / AirAsia Philippines / AirAsia Japan

[mams]

GO Airasia GO

Cos of u..Now everybody wanna form their own no frill airlines.

Indonesia already have their budget airlines - Lion Air
Thailand - Orient Thai

[szehoong]

Originally posted by mams

GO Airasia GO

Cos of u..Now everybody wanna form their own no frill airlines.

Indonesia already have their budget airlines - Lion Air
Thailand - Orient Thai

Actually Lion Air and Orient Thai has been around for some time......but they are not as aggressive or as successful as AirAsia.

Everyone is afraid of AirAsia because this airline just operates domestic routes and still could remain profitable.

[TYW]

wah!! chep or not

[szehoong]

This airline seems to be making lotsa news these days so I think there should be a thread on the airline!


AirAsia plans to buy 5 more aircraft next year


BY SA’ODAH ELIAS IN SEPANG


AIRASIA is committed to buy up to five Boeing 737-300 by the end of next year to complete its fleet of 21 jetliners – including 16 on lease – by the middle of next year.

The purchase is expected to be financed through its proposed initial public offering slotted for the second half of 2004.

AirAsia chief executive officer Tony Fernandes said buying planes would be more cost-effective than leasing.

Based on the company’s plan, AirAsia would have a total of 30 aircraft by the end of next year, he told reporters yesterday after the opening of AirAsia’s very own maintenance hanger at the KL International Airport by Transport Minister Datuk Sri Chan Kong Choy.

Chan also witnessed the arrival of AirAsia’s second aircraft, which flew in from Singapore’s Seletar Airport, where it had undergone a refurbishment and overhaul.




Datuk Chan Kong Choy (far right) on board AirAsia's newly-purchased aircraft. With him are AirAsia chairman Datuk Pahmin A. Rajab (left) and Tony Fernandes.



The arrival of the plane has raised AirAsia’s fleet to 11, including nine leased aircraft.

The plane, which previously served US Airways, was purchased via an agreement with GE Capital Aviation Services last June.

The new AirAsia maintenance hanger, which cost RM2.2 mil, can accommodate a new generation Boeing 737-800 or an Airbus A320.

The hanger will enable AirAsia to carry out routine maintenance and defect rectification of its fleet of Boeing 737-3000s.

Currently, heavy maintenance jobs of its aircraft were sub-contracted to Malaysia Airlines and ST Aerospace Engineering.

Meanwhile, Chan said the government was still studying AirAsia’s application to introduce a new Kuala Lumpur-Bangkok route. “A decision will be made very soon,” he added.

[TYW]

more planes, more flights. cool!

[TYW]

[baqthier]

Nice new seats!
I love Air Asia. No need tickets! Very low fares! Best in the world!

[KJ]

i wonder why Air Asia don't want to buy a Boeing 747-400?

[szehoong]

Originally posted by KJ

i wonder why Air Asia don't want to buy a Boeing 747-400?

AirAsia is a 2 year old company and dun have such money........then they only fly domestic so 747-400s are a bit too big (would be underutilised) for domestic routes

In fact no airline uses 747 for domestics unless the traffic is too heavy (like in MAS' case last year for the KK flights).....

[TYW]

Originally posted by szehoong

AirAsia is a 2 year old company and dun have such money........then they only fly domestic so 747-400s are a bit too big (would be underutilised) for domestic routes

In fact no airline uses 747 for domestics unless the traffic is too heavy (like in MAS' case last year for the KK flights).....

hmm... what happened last year in KK??

[szehoong]

Originally posted by TYW

hmm... what happened last year in KK??

I dunno......a lot of people going lah......how I know leh......now MAS flies like 90 times weekly there!

[TYW]

Originally posted by szehoong

I dunno......a lot of people going lah......how I know leh......now MAS flies like 90 times weekly there!

wah!! maybe ppl go there to buy vegetables my aunt say it is very very cheap

[szehoong]

Originally posted by TYW

wah!! maybe ppl go there to buy vegetables my aunt say it is very very cheap

wah.......fly there to buy vege.........you too kaya and no where to spend money ar? Spend so much on air ticket just to save a few cents on veges?!?! ....must be crazy!

[TYW]

Originally posted by szehoong

wah.......fly there to buy vege.........you too kaya and no where to spend money ar? Spend so much on air ticket just to save a few cents on veges?!?! ....must be crazy!

hmm... then maybe they buy fishes as well

he he... joking lah.

[Kevinkhoo1986]

Originally posted by TYW

hmm... then maybe they buy fishes as well

he he... joking lah.

fish and dog and cat were not allowed on the plane

[KJ]

I see. Domestic Flight is just needed a plane smaller.....

[szehoong]

Another interesting read......




Asian airlines face no-frills challenge


Analysis by K.P.LEE


IT MUST be a discomforting sight for executives at the national airline.

From the picture-perfect windows of its well-appointed Golden Lounge at KL International Airport’s domestic concourse, Malaysia Airline’ (MAS) business class passengers enjoy a commanding view – many times a day – of the flashy red planes on the apron.

There, veritable billboards with huge AirAsia.com letters splashed across the fuselage of Boeing 737s, announce: “Now Everyone Can Fly.”

It’s hardly a view the airline, which until two years ago was carrying almost every air traveller in Malaysia, had been hoping for to greet its most valued customers. But that is the new reality for MAS.

Cheeky upstart AirAsia that sells cheap fares over the Internet is wooing customers away and growing bigger by the day it seems. It is becoming a real challenge to the established order.

The carrier, which claimed to be profitable almost from the word go, has forecast a net profit of RM60mil on the back of revenues of RM450mil next year. A stock market listing is on the cards. By then, it plans to be flying 30 Boeing 737s, closing in on MAS which has 37 of the short-haul jets.

Nor is the challenge a purely local one. The threat to established airlines like MAS is now region-wide. While some big airlines have been “consolidating,” low-cost carriers have been expanding.

AirAsia had recently announced a new Bangkok-based joint venture to challenge Thai Airways’ dominance on trunk domestic routes in what could be an exact carbon copy of its Malaysian operations, while starting its first intra-regional route between KLIA and Phuket this month.

Meanwhile, in Singapore, budget airline ValueAir is set to fly next year. In response, Singapore Airlines joining the fray last week, said it would be teaming up with Europe-based Ryanair to form Tiger Airways, a no-frills airline also with a scheduled 2004 take-off.

Virgin Blue, the low-cost carrier that has captured close to a third of the local Australian market in just three years, has also been reported to be interested in Asia, with AirAsia rumoured as a likely partner. Other players in the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia want a slice of the action too.

In fact, the establishment of the budget carrier has been regarded as a key milestone for aviation, which on Wednesday will mark another – it’ll be one hundred years since Orville Wright’s first powered flight at Kitty Hawk.

While the centennial year outlook for the airline industry, which suffered collective losses of US$13bil last year and expected to lose between US$5bil and US$10bil this year, cannot be more dire, low-cost carriers stand out as beacons of success.

They now account for 25% of air travel in the United States after 25 years of deregulation, and 10% in Europe, where there had been an explosion of new airlines over the past decade.

While US behemoth United Airlines sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and well-regarded Swissair went belly-up in Europe, their low-cost competitors like JetBlue and Easyjet filled planes turned in profits.

Now, it seems, it’s Asia’s turn. So, is this the beginning of the end for the established full service airlines like MAS, Singapore and Thai?

Analysts said no. Formidable though the competition might be for established airlines, they said that what the newcomers had stacked against them were regulations and treaties, which generally worked in favour of incumbents. (Not to mention that statistically, nine out of every 10 airlines start-ups fail.)

ING Financial Markets aviation analyst Philip Wickham said it was far too early to write off the national airlines. “They will stay. I think the doom scenario is overdone,” he said.

Asia did not have the same sort of single aviation market seen in the United States or Europe, he said.

“You wouldn’t see an Asian version of Ryanair developing because of the restrictive air service agreements. Therefore, a pan-Asian or even pan-Asean low-cost airline would be unlikely in the foreseeable future,” he said.

“AirAsia, for example, cannot operate on Jakarta-Singapore as it is a Malaysian carrier. Until we get a liberalised environment in the region, low-cost carriers will be confined predominately to country-specific routes,” argued Wickham.

And because most countries jealously guard their air traffic rights in a web of bilateral treaties, this has also stopped the type of cross-border investments and mergers seen in other industries like motor or shipping.

AirAsia’s joint-venture approach to circumvent the ownership issues, however, was “creative and interesting” said Wickham.

The relatively longer distances in Asia are also not conducive to the economics of low-cost flying. With flight times of four hours or more, the impact of low-cost carriers on established carriers is much less.

But on the shorter routes, however, analysts said, established national carriers like MAS might have to mimic the low-cost carriers.

Otherwise, they could lose out. Wickham worked out that regional low-cost competition would cost MAS 14% and Singapore Airlines 15% in revenue if they did nothing.

Change, it seems, would appear to be on the cards – perhaps with the passenger sacrificing that free meal or a couple of inches of legroom for cheaper fares.

“It’s becoming a commodity, more like a flying bus,” said one analyst, who said flying had become far less elitist.

After 100 years, the romance that is flying may not yet be dead, but these days, it is clearly in the hands of the number crunchers. And that’s a good thing too, for in time, maybe everyone can fly.

[ethan]

Air Asia is now going to Bangkok!!!!!!!

AirAsia to fly KLIA-Bangkok next month
By Ng Kar Yean, 10.59am

No-frills airline AirAsia Sdn Bhd expects to start flying to Bangkok from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) from Jan 15 next year following the Transport Ministry’s approval for it to do so.
AirAsia chief executive officer Tony Fernandes told reporters last Saturday that he had been informed of the ministry’s approval, five months after the airline had submitted its application.

When contacted, a ministry official confirmed that a verbal approval had been communicated to AirAsia. “The approval letter will be sent to AirAsia in a day or two,” he told FinancialDaily.
Pending that approval to fly to Bangkok from KLIA, AirAsia has earlier decided to fly to Bangkok via Johor’s Senai Airport. It was scheduled to start the route from Senai Airport on a daily basis starting Feb 2 next year.

Last Saturday, the airline made its maiden regional flight from KLIA to Phuket.

AirAsia’s landing rights to Thailand came after Shin Corporation Pcl, which is controlled by Thailand’s Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, bought a 51% stake in AirAsia Aviation Co Ltd, which conducts the Thai operations.

Fernandes said AirAsia would start with one flight daily from KLIA to Bangkok. Bookings would begin next Monday with fares starting from RM94 one way, he said.

He was speaking to reporters in Phuket after AirAsia’s official flight from KLIA to the popular tourist destination last Saturday.
“From the number of emails we have received requesting a KLIA-Bangkok flight, we expect the response to be good,” he said.
Since AirAsia started its maiden regional flight to Phuket on Dec 8, a passenger load of 77% has been achieved, he said. “This bodes well for the KLIA-Bangkok flight.”

Fernandes said AirAsia also had plans to fly to Bangkok from other airports in Malaysia.

He said it had been a “long battle” to get approval for the KLIA- Bangkok flight.

“As a new kid on the block providing low fare flights, it took a while to get the approval as the national airline (Malaysian Airline System Bhd) is dominating the domestic and international route,” said Fernandes.

Recently, Thailand’s telecommunications giant Shin Corp bought 20 million shares in AirAsia Aviation for 250 million baht (RM23.82 million).

The remaining 49% stake in AirAsia Aviation is held by AA International Co Ltd, which is under AirAsia

[baqthier]

Here are some pics from Air Asia flights:

Labuan flight..but the one in the view is one of Sabah's islands

Not forest! But sea

[Pablo]

it looks like forest than a sea..hehehe...that sea water must be very clear