Air Asia to London Stansted

[Anthony T]

It seems that Stansted has won out over Manchester as Air Asia's first UK destination.

Bookings will open very soon for a possible start date at the start of the NS09season (late March).

Announcement maybe at the Melbourne-Kuala Lumpar launch this week.

Expect some good opening offers from KUL-STN.

Hopefully thru ticketing will be available from OOL/PER/MEL to STN and an all in fare of about AUD 1200 round trip:)

[Arthur T]

It seems that Stansted has won out over Manchester as Air Asia's first UK destination.

Bookings will open very soon for a possible start date at the start of the NS09season (late March).

Announcement maybe at the Melbourne-Kuala Lumpar launch this week.

Expect some good opening offers from KUL-STN.

Hopefully thru ticketing will be available from OOL/PER/MEL to STN and an all in fare of about AUD 1200 round trip:)

If this comes true, which aircraft will they use to STN? A332?
Furthermore, is STN long enough (and with immigration facilities) to land a A332 or even 4 engine aircrafts such as the A340 family?

[Steve Leadenham]

Stansted was certainly long enough in 1982 when I landed there in a Qantas 747-238.

[Grahame Hutchison]

Currently:

Runway 05/23

10000 x 150 feet
3048 x 46 meters

[Steve Jones]

I think they have secured one or more A340s?

[Anthony T]

A340's will be operating the service.

QF (and other airlines) tech stopped at STN recently due to the fuel farm near Milton Keynes going bang, so the rwy is long enough for a 747-400 doing STN-BKK/SIN.

Plenty of long haul cargo flights operate from STN as well as passenger flights to the Middle East and the America's.

Stacks of short haul (up to 3hrs) to Europe with LCC's with next to nothing fares.

Don't go to STN looking for photo ops, there aren't any:rolleyes:

But if you want to see a lot of Ryanair 737-800's this is the place:D

Most of the time the terminal resembles a major Indian railway station and isn't a very nice place to linger, but it is only 3 mins from my cousins house :D

[Anthony T]

Flights from KL to London Stansted start 11 Mar 09 with fares from A$261 o/w incl taxes.

[Montague S]

A340 what? 300, 500 or 600?

[Rhys Xanthis]

A340 what? 300, 500 or 600?

From my reading, A340-300 seems to be the go.

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/air-asia-x-launches-stansted-kl-flights

Announcing what Tony Fernandes, the ebullient founder of Air Asia X called “the worst kept secret in the airline industry” (see online news July 30), the Malaysia-based airline will commence five-times weekly flights on March 11, using Airbus A340-300 aircraft configured for 286 passengers.

A number of other sites back that up.

[Benny Zheng]

If i'm not wrong the A343 is coming from Air Canada.

[Saj_A]

When the idea of flying to London was first outlined by AirAsia X, they intended to fly to LHR via DXB.

Notwithstanding the reality that ex-DXB AirAsia X would have been annihilated by Emirates, but high fuel costs the industry has battled with this year and other operational costs mean that the carrier will not operate this route for long.

Stansted is miles away from London, infrastructure to get to Central London from STN is a joke - I bet we see them shift to LGW within 18 months, if not sooner. Or perhaps even drop London altogether.

As to Fernandes' statement he'll introduce £49 fares, well, those words will inevitably come back to haunt him.

OPEC will make sure of that ;)

[Will H]

When the idea of flying to London was first outlined by AirAsia X, they intended to fly to LHR via DXB.

Notwithstanding the reality that ex-DXB AirAsia X would have been annihilated by Emirates, but high fuel costs the industry has battled with this year and other operational costs mean that the carrier will not operate this route for long.

Actually the different plans had to do with aircraft availability. AirAsia X originally thought they could get a 340, but then 787 delays tightened up the widebody lease market and didn't make obtaining a 340 attractive. That's when they considered flying through the UAE (Sharjah, IIRC, was pegged), but then lease rates came down and they were able to secure a 340.

More 340s are likely on their way in the future. ;)

[Saj_A]

I agree, most of the carriers plans were based on airplane availability:

The link to this article is dead, but here's a snippet:

Malaysia's Chinese news website Sin Chew Daily reports, Air Asia will launch its first long-haul route from 2007.

Air Asia plans to announce the launch of low-cost, long-haul route in January 2007, the route will be London. Inaugural date to be set for July 2007, with a stop in Dubai. It'll be using either 777 or 330 on this route, in conjunction with FAX (Fly Asian Xpress).

[Anthony T]

Stansted is miles away from London, infrastructure to get to Central London from STN is a joke

Stansted is about 30 miles north of London and has Stansted Express rail services to Liverpool St every 15 mins as well as a 30-60 min frequency to the East & West Midlands, there are a multitude of both local area, medium & long distance bus and coach services to most parts of England.

Not everyone that uses STN wants to go to London.

Also the Air Asia flights aren't aimed at the UK-AUS VFR market, but the Ibiza bucket and spade brigade looking to go somewhere further afield for less pounds than the current airlines rip-off fares from Thiefrow.

[Mike W]

current airlines rip-off fares from Thiefrow.

Love it :D