AA 1818
03-14-2007, 05:52 PM
AirAsia X, the region's newest budget airline, has shelved plans for a July launch.
The airline was scheduled to start its service from Kuala Lumpur to Europe and China this summer, but it now seems more likely that it will launch in 2008.
While the low-cost start-up airline believed they had the right business plan in place, it became clear there was a "minor technical issues" - no planes.
The airline had planed to begin its services to China and the UK with just a few leased aircraft, either Airbus A330-300s or Boeing 777-300s, but the cost was thought to be too high.
"We are looking at the cost structure... we want the right aircraft and we won't start until the right mix of aircraft is finalized," the airline's chief executive Raja Mohamad Azmi told Dow Jones newswires.
Mr Azmi blames for the rise in cost of leasing wide-bodied aircraft on Airbus. The failure of the European plane maker to deliver its new superjumbo A380s on time has meant that many airlines are hanging on to their current fleet, plus more airlines are looking to lease large capacity aircraft to fill the gap.
Many industry observers thought the summer launch of the airline to be overly ambitious when it made the announcement in January.
"The delay is not really surprising," Brendan Sobie of Airline Business Magazine told the BBC.
"The expectations of being able to start a service in July seemed unrealistic given the lack of availability of aircraft."
AirAsia X are planning to splash out on 15 aircraft, but they probably will not delivered until the end of 2008 and will cost about $850 million.
Ultimately the airline hopes to have a network covering Asia, Australia, China, Europe, India and the Middle East and plans to offering return ticket prices between $80 and $450 between Malaysia and the UK.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/03/13/bt.airasiax/index.html?section=cnn_latest
Well, I for one, wanted to see what would have happened when they atarted operations. Most of the other airlines in the reigon (all of the Legacy carriers anyway) would have been horrified to see them open and being some interesting competition. Anyway, I also want to see what aircraft types they will choose - and for some reason, I see the A330s as the frontrunners.
The airline was scheduled to start its service from Kuala Lumpur to Europe and China this summer, but it now seems more likely that it will launch in 2008.
While the low-cost start-up airline believed they had the right business plan in place, it became clear there was a "minor technical issues" - no planes.
The airline had planed to begin its services to China and the UK with just a few leased aircraft, either Airbus A330-300s or Boeing 777-300s, but the cost was thought to be too high.
"We are looking at the cost structure... we want the right aircraft and we won't start until the right mix of aircraft is finalized," the airline's chief executive Raja Mohamad Azmi told Dow Jones newswires.
Mr Azmi blames for the rise in cost of leasing wide-bodied aircraft on Airbus. The failure of the European plane maker to deliver its new superjumbo A380s on time has meant that many airlines are hanging on to their current fleet, plus more airlines are looking to lease large capacity aircraft to fill the gap.
Many industry observers thought the summer launch of the airline to be overly ambitious when it made the announcement in January.
"The delay is not really surprising," Brendan Sobie of Airline Business Magazine told the BBC.
"The expectations of being able to start a service in July seemed unrealistic given the lack of availability of aircraft."
AirAsia X are planning to splash out on 15 aircraft, but they probably will not delivered until the end of 2008 and will cost about $850 million.
Ultimately the airline hopes to have a network covering Asia, Australia, China, Europe, India and the Middle East and plans to offering return ticket prices between $80 and $450 between Malaysia and the UK.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/03/13/bt.airasiax/index.html?section=cnn_latest
Well, I for one, wanted to see what would have happened when they atarted operations. Most of the other airlines in the reigon (all of the Legacy carriers anyway) would have been horrified to see them open and being some interesting competition. Anyway, I also want to see what aircraft types they will choose - and for some reason, I see the A330s as the frontrunners.