Air Asia X Budget Flights KL to Australia / UK
| Air Asia X is a medium and long-haul "budget" airline based at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia serving UK, Australia and Asia. Expansion of the network continues as a large order of Airbus A330s and A350s gets delivered through to 2018. Let's consider the background to this airline... |
Parent company Air Asia operates a variety of domestic Malaysian routes as well as flying to Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Macau, Indonesia, Philippines and Cambodia. Their success has been dramatic over the last few years - being a very well run outfit with entrepreneur Tony Fernandes at the helm who has turned them into the the biggest discount airline in South-East Asia.
They have gained global recognition through sponsorship deals with Manchester United football team, the Williams Formula 1 team constructor and the Oakland Raiders American Football team.
Fly Asian Xpress (FAX) was a subsidiary of Air Asia which operated 22 routes within Eastern Malaysia (Sarawak and Sabah) using small Fokker 50 and Twin Otters aircraft. These routes were subsequently handed to Malaysian Airlines so that FAX could focus on operating the long-haul flights which had been announced in January 2007. The operating name Fly Asian Xpress was officially changed over to Air Asia X in late 2007.
Air Asia X operates 9 services: Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Gold Coast (OOL), Perth (PER) and Melbourne (MEL) in Australia, KUL to Hangzhou (HGH), Tianjin (TSN) Chengdu (CTU) and Taipei (TPE) in Asia, KUL to Abu Dhabi (AUH) and KUL to London Stansted (STN).
In August 2007 Virgin's Richard Branson invested in a 16% stake in Air Asia X. Air Asia owns 16%, venture capitalist funds from Japan and Bahrain own 10% each and a Fernandes consortium 'Aero Ventures' owns the remaining 48%.
Other potential Air Asia X routes are likely to be Kuala Lumpur to India (New Delhi, Mumbai), Europe (Paris), Australia (Sydney, Adelaide) and other cities throughout Asia and the Middle East. Services to the US will also likely start in the near future to the San Francisco and New York areas.
Air Asia X brings competition to UK-Asia-Australia routes and this can only be good news for travellers. The lowest 'promo' one-way prices to KUL are AUD 199 for Perth, AUD 299 for Melbourne and Gold Coast, and £250 for London - although special offers are occasionally lower. Passengers can also connect to Air Asia's extensive (and cheap) destination network. Note, you will pay extra for checked luggage, seat assignments and meals - so do check the competition (particularly Malaysian Airlines) when looking for tickets.
Air Asia has also helped Kuala Lumpur (KUL) develop into a primary regional airport hub, in competition with its rivals Bangkok, Singapore and Hong Kong - Kuala Lumpur is a good value stopover destination with reasonably priced hotels, especially the 5-star category.
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Air Travel Articles > Budget Airline Flying > Air Asia X - Fly Asian Xpress
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