FARNBOROUGH,
London: AirAsia hopes to return to Europe and expand its presence in
the region amid the order of 50 A330-900 neo aircraft.
Group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said the A330
neo would make it possible for the airline to re-enter London and also
expand its presence to other European countries like Rome.
"I love to fly back to London and with A330 neo it would make it more
possible," he told reporters after a signing ceremony with Airbus on
the order of 50 A330 neo, here today.
AirAsia, via AirAsia X, had previously flown to Paris and London,
offeringconnections from its Australian routes, but it halted serving
these routes in 2012.
Fernandes said the A330 neo aircraft gives much better fuel economy
and would make AirAsia X stronger, expand the routes via its Bangalore
hub to Europe and Africa, as well as, connect Japan to South America.
He said AirAsia would accelerate growth in India by adding more
planes toserve new routes as soon as discussion with the Indian
government conclude.
Fernandes said AirAsia would focus on Indonesia, Thailand, the
Philippines, South India for further growth and continue to start routes
from new points like Penang - Chennai and Kota Bharu - Bandung.
As for AirAsia X, Fernandes said the growth focus would be on China,
Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Middle East and India, while A330 neo
could connect more routes from its hubs to around the world.
Meanwhile, AirAsia X chief executive officer Azran Osman-Rani said
the airline's core strategy was to connect Southeast Asia and to become
thelargest airline flying from Malaysia to China, Taiwan, South Korea,
Japan and Australia.
He said AirAsia X hoped its investment in Indonesia would be able to
take off by the end of this year and be fully operational next year.
Source: Bernama | 16 July 2014
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