Air Asia drops BOM/DEL/ORY & LGW

[Michael Cleary]

It has now made it to airasia.com. .

[Brian Wilkes]

Might see there A340's in and out of OZ a bit more?

[Anthony T]

Maybe the A340's will go on the Kuala Lumpar-Johannesburg route that Malaysian are quitting?

[Jarden S]

On wiki they Air Asia X start YSSY flights 1st april getting in early before Scoot does.
MH will drop 1 daily frequency to free up the landing slots to Air Asia the remainding MH YSSY service may be up gauged to an A380.

[David C]

If and when Scoot start their European and Indian sub continent flights , I bet AirAsiaX will rue the day they dropped out of that market ..

Dave C

[Radi K]

Does this have anything to do with essentially MH and AK being one these days?

[Joe Frampton]

I flew with AAX to London in 2010, we paid to upgrade to bulkheads, and along with meals and blankets was still around $800 pp on sale, which was the primary reason for our choice of carrier at the time. The extra seat per row (9 across on the airbus instead of 8 on other carriers), was interesting, and we saw many an Aussie 'wedging' themselves into the width of the seat. But overall we were happy with our experience. I was still surprised by this pull-out announcement, although not shocked, after Royal Brunei had pulled out of Brisbane, etc. I work in the international travel industry, and as much as the current European crisis is having a dramatic impact on passenger flow from the European side, the fact is that Aussies aren't just after the "cheapest" anymore, especially on ultra-longhaul like Europe. They do want a little more comfort, and meals, and movies, and the ability to fly directly into the sort of destinations like Emirates offers (I booked Glasgow, Munich, Venice & St Petersburg last week). I also get far more requests for 4 star minimum hotels, than "what's the cheapest hotel?" Many customers are actually prepared to pay a bit more at the amount, especially with the fine state of our dollar. Also, the last time I looked at long haul fares on AAX, they weren't much cheaper than other carriers, especially when you added up all the (frustrating) bits & pieces, which begs the question of how interested I'd be in flying with them if they weren't the cheapest... heck, they SHOULD be the cheapest if I'm gonna get wedged in 9 across and pay for a Nasi Lemak. Fine for a cheapie trip to Asia, but maybe not so good for London. So I wish them all the best, and Scoot too.