Air Asia X unveiled - no UK airline tie up

[Guest wowpow]

Long-haul budget airline unveiled

Budget flights go global Malaysian aviation tycoon Tony Fernandes has unveiled a new no-frills long-haul airline, Air Asia X. The venture - a tie-up between Air Asia and Fly Asian Express (FAX) - will launch in July and fly to destinations in India, China and Europe.

 

The new airline aims to carry half a million passengers in its first year, Mr Fernandes said.

 

Air Asia X will also link up with other low-cost carriers to boost its connectivity and flights network.

 

Earlier this week, media reports had suggested the firm was hoping to form alliances with UK no-frills carrier Easyjet and Richard Branson's airline Virgin.

 

The two companies later denied the reports.

 

"Air Asia X's network will cover destinations which are more than four hours in flight duration from Kuala Lumpur, offering daily point-to-point frequencies to popular destinations in China, India and Europe," Air Asia and FAX said in a statement.

 

The two are working to put together a fleet of up to 20 aircraft for Air Asia X.

 

Cheap flights

 

Mr Fernandes told the BBC that Air Asia X flights to London would be priced from $80 to $450 (

[Guest buaseng]

This raises numerous questions, amongst which are:

1. Which UK airport will be used?

 

2. What does the fare include - i.e. are refreshments/food paid for on-board as extras?

 

3. What will the baggage allowance be - you can bet it will not be as large as a 'normal' airline?

 

4. Will there be premium economy or business class or just economy class. Also, seat pitch is important for a long haul flight. Budget airlines have a philosophy of packing in as many passengers as they can, to recoup costs and offset the lower fares, therefore seat pitch is as little as they can legally get away with.

 

5. What type of aircraft will be used?

(The reference to the A320 is misleading and it is unlikely that this will be the type of aircraft in use. If it is, the aircraft has limited passenger capacity (150) and does not have the range to fly UK to Thailand/Malaysia non-stop, thereby requiring a refuelling stopover on the way. It's maximum cruising speed is also slow - 487 Knots - therefore the journey time would certainly be several hours longer than the current 11 hours for a 747-400 or 777).

 

6. No mention is made of Thailand. Why fly in discomfort to Kuala Lumpur and then have the inconvenience of transferring and another two hour flight to Bangkok?. Budget airlines seldom provide baggage transfer between flights meaning that you would have to collect them from the first flight and then check them in again for the second.

 

IMHO the service provided by budget airlines is barely acceptable even for short haul flights. It is likely to be totally unacceptable for long haul.

 

I am also uncomfortable with the reputation of Asian budget airlines for maintenance and safety. There have been several plane crashes in the last couple of years all belonging to budget airlines (most recently the one in Indonesia, where they are still searching for the plane still missing after three days). Also Phuket Air did not enhance the reputation of Asian airlines on European routes.

 

In the end, you get what you pay for and I would rather pay the extra for some peace of mind even if this peace may be purely an illusion!