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Lots of New Cities and New Routes from Porter, Peach, and Air Asia X

Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of all the new route announcements that come our way, so we’ve complied a little bit of a rundown below. As long as you can afford the fares, this should definitely help add to your passport stamp collection.

· Porter Airlines:
This week the Canadian carrier announced that they’ll be doing their thing back and forth between Washington-Dulles International Airport and their home base at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. The new flights start on April 16 and will run three times each week, and we really need to get with the program and fly with them before 2012 is over!

· Air Asia X:
They’re on the move again, and this week brings a new option between Kuala Lumpur and Sydney thanks to the folks over at Air Asia X. It sounds like the airline is putting the final touches and plans on the new city pair, and flights begin April 1. Tickets could go on sale as soon as like next week. Air Asia X needs like a few more days to shake things out so just stay tuned.

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Flight Attendants / Richard Branson / Air Asia X / Tony Fernandes / F1 Racing / KUL / Air Asia / → All Tags

Delayed Again! Will Richard Branson Ever Dress in Flight Attendant Drag?

If you didn’t book your tickets last week for Richard Branson’s in-flight drag performance, you might have a little more time to do so, as it looks like the charity flight will be delayed once again.

Originally things were scheduled for April 1 and then May 1, but now things are being pushed back until July 4. The problem this time is that there are just too many people flying in and out of London to celebrate the Royal Wedding—that’s this Friday in case you didn’t hear. So the flight should leave from London on July 4 on its way to Kuala Lumpur.

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Tickets Now On Sale for Sir Richard Branson's In-Flight Drag Performance

There’s less than a month to go until Richard Branson finally walks down the aisle—of an airplane—dressed head to toe as a flight attendant. We’re just wondering if he’s going to sport those snazzy new heels that are on their way to his ladies at Virgin Atlantic.

What happened was he lost a bet with Air Asia's CEO Tony Fernandes regarding whose F1 racing team would have a better 2010 season. Team Lotus did a little better, so now Richard Branson gets to dress in drag and serve drinks on an Air Asia X flight from Kuala Lumpur to London. We like that the man is true to his word and recognizes that a bet is a bet, but more so that he has a great sense of humor.

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Richard Branson Moves April Fool's Day to May 1, When He'll Dress in Flight Attendant Drag

Do you enjoy seeing billionaires publicly embarrassed? Then have we got a date for you to mark on your calendar. May 1 is the reschedule date for the Air Asia X flight from Kuala Lumpur to London on which Sir Richard Branson will dress in drag and serve as a flight attendant. Of course this is due to him losing a bet with Air Asia's CEO Tony Fernandes over whose F1 racing team would have a better 2010 season. Fernandes' Lotus won the bet and now, instead of Tony as a Virgin Atlantic trolley dolly, Branson will don an Air Asia skirt suit (hopefully specially made).

You'd think this whole stunt would be best suited to April 1—April Fool's Day—but it's already been delayed. The original drag day was planned for February 21, but had to be postponed due to Branson breaking his leg (after another skier ran into him) on the slopes in Switzerland.

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We'll Be Waiting a Bit Longer to See Richard Branson in Flight Attendant Drag

We were all excited for February 21, as that was the day that Richard Branson was supposed to dress in full drag aboard an Air Asia X flight. You might remember that Branson lost a bet to Tony Fernandes, the head honcho over at the Malaysian low cost carrier, over whose F1 racing team would have the better record.

Apparently Branson has a little bit of a knee injury, so it looks like wearing high heels up in the air for a long haul flight might aggravate things a little too much. Over the holidays, another skier ran into him on the ski slopes in Switzerland, and he was forced into the hospital to undergo surgery on his knee.

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Richard Branson, Loser of a Bet, Will Dress in Flight Attendant Drag for Charity Flight

February 21. Mark your calendars now, as that's the date Virgin head honcho Richard Branson is due to dress in drag as a flight attendant for Malaysian low-cost carrier Air Asia X. It's all the result of losing a bet he made with buddy, former colleague and fellow multi-millionaire Tony Fernandes, the CEO of Air Asia X.

You see, Branson and Fernandes also both have Formula One racing teams, and the bet had it that whoever had the poorer performing team of the season would be dressing up to work the other's airline on a flight as a regular flight attendant. Since Fernandes' Lotus team ranked higher than Virgin's it's Branson who'll be shaving his legs and donning his Air Asia wings for a February 21st London Stansted - Kuala Lumpur flight on Air Asia X.

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This Week's New Routes Include Air Canada, AeroMexico, and a Double Dose of Continental

Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of all the new route announcements that come our way, so we’ve complied a little bit of a rundown below. As long as you can afford the fares, this should definitely help add to your passport stamp collection.

· Continental:
If there’s one market that’s well served, it has to be flights from the New York area to London. However, Continental doesn’t think there are enough flights, and they’re adding one more option into the mix between Newark and Heathrow. Daily flight number five started on October 30 and offers a new evening option, so you can work all day in the city and then fly to the UK while trying to get a little bit of shut eye in the back of the plane—great.

· AeroMexico:
Even if you’re not ready to start thinking about a winter vacation, AeroMexico is, as they’re adjusting their schedule to prepare for the cold days ahead. The airline is bringing back service from Denver to Mexico City as well as from Ontario—the city in California not the province in Canada—to Guadalajara. Things should start up later this month for the California routes, and December will see the initiation of the Denver service. The airline is also adding more flight frequencies from places like New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and Chicago—so get ready to say adios to the winter and buenos dias to the beach.

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Because of a Bet, Richard Branson Could Become an Air Asia Stewardess

This Photoshop comes courtesy of Lotus Racing (Fernandes' team)

Okay, are you sitting down? Listen to this crazy news: Richard Branson made a bet with Air Asia CEO Tony Fernandes that could have one of them cross-dressing in a flight attendant uniform, to work for a day onboard the winner's airline. OMG. It all focuses around this Formula One racing season and the fact that Virgin sponsors a racing team as does Air Asia, so the CEOs are pitted against each other.

ESPN explains how all this funny business got started:

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Air Asia Becomes First Low-Cost Carrier To Debut Lie-Flat Seats

We knew this day would come. As low-cost carriers embark on ever-longer flights and continue to compete with legacy carriers, they're starting to look into offering up a few perks atypical of LCCs, like say lie-flat first class seats. But Air Asia X has gone further than just thinking about it; they've just installed 12 such spots on A330s and 18 on the A340s, scheduled to fly their long-haul route between London and Kuala Lumpur beginning in June 2010. 28 premium economy seats had to be axed out to make room for these pretty babies, but it'll be well worth it once passengers realize that these lie-flat seats aren't astronomically priced like typical first class.

It's still LCC Air Asia X after all, so don't expect five-star dining and VIP treatment and champagne. They don't even seat-back TVs, preferring instead to explore portable entertainment device options which haven't yet been decided upon. And if you've got a lie-flat seat for that whole flight, who wants to watch TV anyway? Go on and sleep!

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Air Asia Just Put A Million Free Tickets Up For Grabs

Remember when Ryanair threw a hissy fit about bad coverage and "retaliated" by giving away over a million free seats? This new deal from low-cost carrier AsiaAir has going is just like that, rounded down a few thousand seats. Except this the deal opens up a huge vacation window next summer. And it covers over 70 destinations in China, India, Taiwan, Indonesia and Thailand. And you don't have to fly on Ryanair. All things that we are very, very in favor of, but let's hear what they have to say:

AirAsia’s regional commercial head Kathleen Tan said when the economy was tough, people looked for traveling options that offered them better value for money. 'With no fuel surcharge and administration fee, this deal offers fantastic value to our guests'...she said to complement the free flights, AirAsia’s one-stop travel portal was also offering deals and packages including “free rooms” in more than 180 Asia-Pacific hotels online.

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Malaysia's Diversity Puts It Into Lonely Planet's Top 10 Destinations For 2010

The latest list for 2010 travel trends put out by the Lonely Planet people says something we've been saying for ages: Malaysia is hot.

With budget long-haul carrier Air Asia X turning Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur into a hub that's easy and cheap to get to from pretty much everywhere, we knew it wouldn't be long before people woke up to all the great experiences they can find in Malaysia itself.

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Baby Born On Air Asia Plane Gets Free Flights For Life

In our next life, we'd like to return as a baby born aboard an Air Asia flight. Talk about lucky—a pregnant woman on a flight between Penang and Kuching on Borneo went into surprise labor while in the air, prompting the plane to try for an emergency landing in Kuala Lumpur, but the baby popped out before they could get on the ground.

After the successful delivery, the mother and child were transported to a KL hospital, where they were visited by the higher-ups at Air Asia, who presented them with the rights to free flights for life. Assuming that Air Asia will be around until the kid hits retirement in something like sixty years, he could really make a name for himself traveling around Asia—or beyond, since Air Asia now also flies to both London and is busily signing paperwork to come to both Paris and Los Angeles. Boy oh boy are we jealous of this little boy. The question now is...did he kinda join the mile high club just being born up there?

Related Stories:
· Lifetime free flights for baby born on plane [AFP]
· Talking With Air Asia's CEO Tony Fernandes About US Plans [Jaunted]
· Air Asia coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: jetalone]