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AirAsia Boss Launching Another Malaysian Airline, for Some Reason

Demonstrating impressive complete disregard for the liklihood of a global financial meltdown, AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes is launching a premium Malaysian airline to run shuttles between Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Jakarta and Singapore.

Dubbed Caterham Jet, the regional airline will cater to business executives rich enough to pay for ultra-premium flights but not so rich that they have access to private jets. We're presuming people like that exist, but it seems like kind of a specialized demographic. Even worse, it's the exact demographic that Qantas is already targeting with their new RedQ airline.

Global economic retraction plus niche customer base plus direct competition from Qantas equals...no way this works, right? We're quite sure they had focus groups and market studies and everything, but this just doesn't sound like the kind of thing that would work.

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In-Flight Meals / Food Travel / Airline Food / Volaris / Jetstar / AirAsia / Brunch / Lists / Airlines / → All Tags

Three Airlines That'll Fulfill Your Krispy Kreme Donut Kravings

It's Wednesday—the middle of the week—and we're traveling. We need something to get through the rest of the week and you know what would do the trick? A sugar rush brought on by some Krispy Kreme donuts. It'd be even better if they were in-flight Krispy Kreme donuts.

Good news for us and everyone! Krispy Kremes aren't just limited to standalone stores and the occasional airport kiosk; some airlines actually do serve up the glazed masterpieces direct to your traytable. For this they get major brownie donut points!

Three airlines serving Krispy Kreme in the skies:

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AirAsia Hearts ANA, and Both Heart Bringing Cheap Flights to Japan

It seems like every week there’s news of some major international carrier looking to get into the low-cost carrier business. This week it’s all about All Nippon Airways, as the carrier is obviously looking to stay busy while it sits patiently waiting for the first delivery of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. However, they’re not going it alone, as it looks like they may be partnering with Air Asia in order to do the LCC thing.

Apparently things have advanced way past the drawing board, and there's even the possibility details will be released in an announcement next week. The rumors are that both airlines will team up to start the new carrier with a base in Japan serving most domestic destinations along with spots in the general region. We’re thinking that means—at least at first—that there will be no super cheap deals between LAX and NRT.

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Adventures of Link / AirAsia / Death / Travel News / → All Tags

Free Airline Tickets While The Pint Lives On

If you haven't heard by now, you must hate getting stuff for free: AirAsia is giving away 100,000 tickets, but you'll have to fly by the end of March, so don't bother if you're not going to be in Southeast Asia soon, newly serene after recent airport chaos.

It might be a safer trip than a tour of European capitals, after suspicious white powder was found at 15 16 US embassies on the Continent. (It wasn't that kind of white powder.) And researchers have just revealed that a trip to the US Gulf Coast is more likely to kill you than a trip to the Mid-Atlantic. (Blame the hurricanes, not the football fans.)

At least for now in England, that last drink before you die can still be rightly called a pint!

Related Stories:
· 100,000 Free Tickets [AirAsia]
· White Powder Alert at Embassies [CNN]
· Death Map Plots Where Mother Nature Might Kill You [Peter Greenberg]
· Giving Them an Inch, and a Pint [NYT]
· In Defense of Movie Set Travel [WorldHum]

[Photo: AirAsia]

Andaman Sea Field Trip / Boats / AirAsia / → All Tags

Thailand's Andaman Sea: There And Away

Thailand... Are we nuts?! Nah: The airport trouble is over, and while politicians keep bickering in Bangkok, the rest of the country is ripe for exploration. Claire Duffett just spent two weeks in southwest Thailand sailing the Andaman Sea from Krabi to Phuket.

When protesters calling for the resignation of Thailand’s prime minister seized Bangkok’s airports for an entire week, I was planning to fly from Phuket to Bangkok then to the United States. Instead, I spent 24 hours riding double-decker buses spray-painted in fluorescent colors. The tension among passengers trying to get home made the rides feel even longer. Wrangling for good seats descended into expletive-laden arguments, and language barriers with the driver turned less gracious passengers into belligerent a-holes.

Still, the beauty of the Andaman’s islands exceeded the suckiness of the journey there. And for those lucky enough to visit the region when it’s not in a state of anarchy, here’s a rundown of how to get there and away:

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Had Enough? How To Get Out Of Bangkok

Possible further airport hell averted! The latest reports out of Bangkok have it that Suvarnabhumi could be reopen as early as December 5, though other estimates say rebooting BKK could take at least another week or longer.

Don't order your last celebratory bowl of Pad Thai just yet, though: With as many as a few hundred thousand other people clamoring to get out of the country, flights are bound to be the definition of overbooked for days if not weeks. What's the best exit strategy, then? For now, it's the Vietnam-era U-Tapao airfield, a 90-mile drive south of Bangkok, which is currently operating some international flights.

Among the carriers making connections to international airports that won't be total nightmares for the rest of 2008 are AirAsia, Cathay Pacific, Etihad and Malaysia Airlines. AirAsia in particular has lots of flights, including departures to Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Macau, Shenzhen and Singapore.

Related Stories:
· AirAsia "Rescue Flights" [Official Site]
· Bangkok Protests: What to Do if You're in Thailand [Telegraph]
· Bangkok International Airport Still Protest Central [Jaunted]

[Photo: AirAsia]

AirAsia / Air Asia X / Tony Fernandes / Asia Travel / Airlines / → All Tags

AirAsia's Growth Uninhibited By Its Narcissism

OK AirAsia, we know you’re one of the few carriers with healthy specs. But we think you might be getting a big ego. First, you offered an on-time guarantee and now your CEO is talking about growing AirAsia X, the company’s Australian subsidiary, tenfold by 2010. That’s faster than when Krispy Kreme suddenly glazed the entire United States in the late '90s.

Both AirAsia X and its Southeast Asian affiliate AirAsia are rapidly buying planes and adding destinations. And as Asian carriers ratcheted up fuel surcharges recently, founder Tony Fernandes scrapped AirAsia’s. Confidence is clearly not a problem for this carrier.

In fact, the one-year-old AirAsia X division will have one billion ringgit ($276 million) in profits by the end of 2009, says CEO Azran Osman Rani. This year’s profits will be about 350 million ringgit.

We’ll tell you if they back up the bluster with a flight review next week: We’re flying AirAsia from Phuket to Bangkok, and we're expecting to be impressed.

Related Stories:
· Malaysia’s AirAsia X Plans to Expand Sales Tenfold [AFP, via Google]
· AirAsia coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: christophe ramos]

Airlines / AirAsia / LCCs / Low Cost Carriers / Tony Fernandes / → All Tags

Asian LCCs: AirAsia Uses Its Bragging Rights

AirAsia must be feeling pretty good these days. The Malaysian low cost carrier frequently tops Asia tourism industry lists as the best of its kind. And it certainly lacks modesty, plastering the bragging rights across the sides of planes.

The airline has also grown to be Southeast Asia's largest LCC and plans to add nine new planes in 2009 to its existing fleet of 72. In fact, as tourism in the region picks up, the airline is getting downright cocky about its strength in the marketplace. Economic apocalypse? For AirAsia, life's a bear....

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Will Air Asia X Weigh Passengers?

Air Asia offshoot Air Asia X is not the only airline worried about how heavy planes use more fuel--that's getting more expensive by the second. But they're certainly one of the few airlines who are even vaguely mentioning that heavier passengers might be cheating airlines out of money.

Reports are saying that Air Asia X is considering weighing passengers so they can calculate how much more weight the plane could carry, then filling it up with cargo that pays its way. Since Australians recently became the statistically fattest in the world, the airline has also suggested that charging larger passengers on Australasian routes could "help Aussies lose weight."

Maybe a deal between airlines and Weight Watchers will be the next step?

Related Stories:
· Air Asia X May Charge Passengers by Weight [news.com.au]
· Aussie Airlines Ponder Weight-Loss Plans [Jaunted]
· Air Asia X Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Steffe]

AirAsia / LCCs / Low Cost Carriers / → All Tags

Cheap London to Oz Flights Delayed But Still Promised

Chief of Air Asia, the enigmatic can-do man Tony Fernandes, promised us earlier in the year that we'd be able to take a budget flight all the way from Australia to London by Christmas this year. But the bad news is there's a delay on these flights starting up.

The good news is that they still will get off the ground, despite rising fuel costs. Brave Fernandes reckons that "one of the best times to expand is during a period of flux" and the only reason they're not flying the route already is a difficulty in getting hold of the right aircraft.

Air Asia is in the final stages of talks with London Stansted airport and Fernandes says the budget London-Australia route (via Malaysia) will be operating by June 2009 at the latest--and maybe as early as March. We're not sure about having to buy our own food all that way, but if the prices really go as low as $700 then we really won't care.

Related Stories:
· Air Asia to Go Ahead with London-Malaysia Launch [Business Traveller]
· All We Want for Christmas is Long, Cheap Flights [Jaunted]

[Photo: jetalone]

LCCs / Low Cost Carriers / One-Two-Go / Nok Air / AirAsia / Airline Bankruptcy / → All Tags

Thai Airline Grounds All Planes, Promises to Fly in September

So this is a new take on dealing with soaring fuel prices: Thai LCC One-Two-Go will ground its entire fleet starting today, through September 15. At that point, the carrier says, it will resume service.

One-Two-Go is the country's second-largest low cost carrier, and rival carriers are more than happy to snap up displaced customers. Right now, domestic flights on AirAsia start at just $63 all-in, and Nok Air also has a bunch of good-looking "Smile Fares."

So far this year, two smaller Asian carriers have shut down, and Qantas and Thai Airways have announced capacity cuts.

Related Stories:
· Thai Budget Airline Halts Operations [Bloomberg, via]
· AirAsia Upping the Billboard Ante [Jaunted]
· Low Cost Carriers coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Wikimedia]

Tourism Marketing / Travel Advertising / Advertising / Travel Snapshots / AirAsia / Tony Fernandes / → All Tags

Travel Snapshot: AirAsia Upping the Billboard Ante

We thought Orlando's inadvertently raunchy billboard was the greatest travel advertising of the year, but this ad from maverick LCC entrepreneur and washing machine salesman Tony Fernandes has just surged into the lead.

It should come as little surprise that this billboard is in Queensland, Australia, a country known for edgy advertising.

Related Stories:
· Hesitant to Travel? [Seattle P-I]
· Tourism Marketing and Double Entendres [Jaunted]
· Travel Advertising coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Beth Whitman]