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?
Since we mentioned that Malaysia Airlines has great customer service, we've let them drift off our radar a bit in favor of upstart Malaysian LCC Air Asia, with its promises to spirit us across the whole world for nearly nothing.
And that's a pity, because if we'd been paying more attention to long-term good performer Malaysia Airlines, we might have picked up a really special deal recently: An error was made when uploading prices to the computer system, and the cost of a business class flight from Bangkok to Johannesburg was listed as 11,580 Thai Baht instead of 111,580.
That missing "1" made about US$3,500 difference to the price, and those in the know snapped up bargain-priced business class deals for under $400. Malaysia Airlines has now corrected the error but will honor the tickets bought at the cheaper rate. We just wish it had been us.
Remember we said that the Air Asia boss is full of big plans and dreams? Well he might be about to make one of our dreams come true by mentioning the possibility of flights between Australia and Europe for A$1,000 (US$920), which would start before Christmas 2008 if the plan comes together.
Flights with Air Asia's long-haul arm, Air Asia X, already run from Kuala Lumpur to the Gold Coast in Australia, and they are looking to expand to Melbourne and one other (undecided) city. And the airline is in talks with London's Stansted and Manchester airports to get a landing deal--allowing for flights from KL--and apparently both airports are keen.
With the hope of $1,000 flights from LA to Sydney already getting our suitcases jiggling this week, adding cheap Europe to Australia flights to the mix is making the possibility of actually affordable round-the-world travel seem tantalizingly close. We're keeping all our fingers and toes crossed.
Serial publicity hound Richard Branson is headed Down Under later this month to reveal the details on Virgin's latest airline, V Australia.
The start-up is a spin off of Virgin Blue, set to challenge Qantas on flights between Oz and the US before the end of 2008. Interestingly, Branson's visit is timed to coincide with the opening of London Heathrow's Terminal 5--the new home of Virgin rival British Airways.
We're guessing RB won't be taking Kendra Wilkinson along on his trip south, but he won't be hyping V Australia all alone. AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes will be in Melbourne too, talking up his new routes to Malaysia.
Air travel in the Asia-Pacific region is non-stop action at the moment. With Asian LCCs forever threatening to expand and governments chipping away at open skies agreements, it almost feels like we'll be able to fly around Australasia for free in a couple of years.
The news this week is an agreement between the Australian and Malaysian governments to allow more seats on flights between the two countries. Until the announcement, the weekly traffic between Oz and Malaysia was around 35,000 seats, but there are now 5,000 more seats with another 3,500 seats allowed from March 2009.
The expansion is likely to encourage budget airlines like Air Asia X to start more routes to Australia and even compete on the domestic market--there are even rumors that they plan to cooperate with Virgin Blue. We are really hanging out for some cheap flights around this region, so watch this space.
A few days ago Jaunted heartthrob Charles Ogilvie called us up to tell us he was in Asia for a flight on AirAsia. Normally, we'd take that in stride, but Chuck was hopping the inaugural flight between Kuala Lumpur and Vientiane in the company of the airline's CEO, Tony Fernandes (pictured at center), and Association of Southeast Asian Nations Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan (left).
Charles was definitely a fan of the airline, which has a bunch of different carriers unified under one brand banner. (Reminds us of another group of airlines we follow, actually.) He had the chance to ride AirAsia, Indonesia AirAsia and Thai AirAsia--and his full review is just a click away.
Malaysian-based low cost carrier Air Asia X has been up and running for just a few months now, but it keeps hitting the headlines. And unlike some LCCs, it's not due to incredibly delayed flights or habitually lost luggage.
Nope, Air Asia X is in the news for its expansion and investment. Two big companies--one Japanese, one Bahrain-based--have just injected nearly $78 million by buying a 20 percent stake in the airline. They're obviously thinking the planned Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne and KL to London Stansted routes, due to operate from late 2008, are going to be winners.
There are some complaints, of course. In general, people are happy to have another cheap option for flights around Australasia, but some folks are complaining about cramped seats. Air Asia X did announce that it's going to squeeze 30 percent more passengers into its new A330s by using narrower seats, but what some people seem to forget is that you get what you pay for.
We were there when new low cost carrier Air Asia X was first born, but it's only just now about to make the maiden flight from the nest.
Air Asia X is a long-haul budget airline born of Air Asia and Fly Asian Xpress, and their first flight is due to take off on November 2, flying between Kuala Lumpur and the Gold Coast in Australia. Word is that routes from KL to Melbourne will start up in March 2008 and that London Stansted is also on the cards. China, Korea, India and the Middle East are also future destinations.
Air Asia X is still such a close spin-off of Air Asia that it doesn't even have its own website yet; the pages it does present, however, are full of not-very-funny uses of their name's final letter, like "X-citing low fares" and "X-emplary levels of safety". While we wait to see if this Malaysian-based LCC starts up a few more interesting routes, right now we're just keen to see if it's X-tremely cheap and X-tremely punctual.
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by amandak
