Air Asia X - Cheap Flights Asia to Australia, UK and Europe

Air Asia X is a medium and long-haul "no frills" airline that launched flights back in 2007. Air Asia X is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and flies to cities in Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Flights to UK and France are being phased out.

Air Asia X evolved from budget short-haul carrier Air Asia and its subsidiary Fly Asian Xpress. The company Air Asia Bhd is listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange and has satellite operations in Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam carrying over 20 million passengers annually. It is planned that Air Asia X will have it own stock market listing in the near future.

Air Asia X has a fleet of 11 aircraft including 9 Airbus A330-300s and 2 leased Airbus A340-300s. Air Asia X has a large order placed with Airbus for a total of 20 A330s up to 2015 and 10 next generation Airbus A350s to be delivered from 2017.

Air Asia X has the following services from Kuala Lumpur (KUL) under the "D7" flight code:

Air Asia X Route	Airport Code	Start of Service	Frequency	Aircraft
Gold Coast, Australia	OOL	Nov 2007	1x daily	A330
Perth, Australia	PER	Nov 2008	2x daily	A330
Melbourne, Australia	MEL	Nov 2008	2x daily	A330
Sydney, Australia	SYD	Apr 2012	1x daily	A330
London Gatwick, UK	LGW	Mar 2009	5x weekly	A340
Hangzhou, China	HGH	Feb 2008	1x daily	A330
Tianjin, China	TSN	Apr 2009	5x weekly	A330
Chengdu, China	CTU	Oct 2009	5x weekly	A330
Taipei, Taiwan	TPE	Jul 2009	11x weekly	A330
Mumbai, India	BOM	May 2010	4x weekly	A330
New Delhi, India	DEL	Aug 2010	1x daily	A330
Tehran, Iran	IKA	Sep 2010	4x weekly	A330
Seoul, Korea	ICN	Nov 2010	1x daily	A330
Tokyo Haneda, Japan	HND	Dec 2010	3x weekly	A330
Paris Orly, France	ORY	Feb 2011	4x weekly	A340
Christchurch, New Zealand	CHC	Apr 2011	4x weekly	A330
Osaka, Japan	KIX	Nov 2011	3x weekly	A330

Service stops March 31st 2012

Note that above timetable frequencies vary considerably over the year.

Route Cancellations:

Services to UK/Europe/India will be scrapped on March 31st 2012 and Air Asia X will withdraw its 2 Airbus A340s. The cancellations are partly due to the high cost of the UK Air Passenger Duty (APD) and the European Emission Trading Scheme (ETS). The London service had only moved from Stansted (STN) to Gatwick in October 2011.

A service to Abu Dhabi (AUH) was suspended in February 2010 after 15 months of operation.

Air Asia X will consolidate its presence in the Asia-Pacific region with a new service to Sydney, Australia in April 2012 and possibly another Australian city in the coming year. It also has approval to fly to Istanbul, Jeddah, Osaka, Shanghai and Beijing.

Air Asia X passengers to Kuala Lumpur can also connect onto Air Asia's extensive short-haul network around south-east Asia.

Photo credit: Flickr: sabih.ahmed under Creative Commons license

Air Asia X Seating

The Air Asia X fleet had a major refurbishment in 2010 costing some $10 million. The enhanced premium seats are now angled lie-flat. These 20" wide seats have a pitch of 60" upright and 77" fully reclined. The aircraft seating layout for the airline is as follows:

Airbus A340 - 18 Premium seats in a 2-2-2 configuration. 309 economy seats (32" pitch) in a 3-3-3 config. A340 will be phased out.

Airbus A330 - 12 Premium seats with 2-2-2 config. 365 economy seats (31" pitch, 16.5" width) in a 3-3-3 layout.

Note - The standard economy configuration of the above aircraft in the industry is 2-4-2 (8 seats). So Air Asia X is squeezing in an extra seat which means the seats and aisles are narrower and the cabin may feel more claustrophobic to some passengers.

Air Asia X will take delivery of 3 new Airbus A330-200s from 2012 which will have 24 Premium seats and 264 economy seats. These are HGW (High Gross Weight) aircraft that offer increased fuel efficiency - these will be deployed on the London and Paris routes.

Air Asia X Pricing

Air Asia X started life as a low cost operator offering very cheap long-haul flights between UK, Malaysia and Australia. Special "promo" fares were often as low as £99 one way (London to KL) or AUD99 (Australia to KL) - although Air Asia has always charged for optional extras such as assigned seating, onboard meals and checked luggage.

Over the years Air Asia X's prices have been creeping up. With higher oil prices and airport taxes, ultra low prices are a thing of the past. Expect standard fares from Air Asia X to be similar to the full service carriers, particularly if booking at short notice. Promo fares are cheaper but must be booked many months in advance.

Some selected routes can be purchased as "FLY THRU" - where baggage is checked through to the final destination. Other routes need to be booked separately via KUL - so allow ample time for the connection as you will need to clear immigration and collect bags.

Air Asia X competitors: Note that Air Asia is working more closely with Malaysia Airlines after an equity swap deal. Qantas subsidiary Jetstar will be starting budget long-haul flights between Australia and Europe via its Singapore hub. Singapore Airlines has also announced it will operate a mid-haul and long-haul budget airline named Scoot Airlines - the first route will be a Singapore-Sydney service.

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