Long-haul low cost to return to London?

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  • Anonymous
    Guest

    rferguson
    Participant

    The Air Asia X boss has said on Twitter that a return to London is looking likely after they abandoned the route three years ago due to high costs.

    I wonder what has changed? I know fuel has come down a fair bit but the price is still prone to volatility and APD remains high. Perhaps newer more efficient aircraft are the key?

    Ironically, when Air Asia X pulled off the europe routes it said it would be expanding it’s ‘medium haul’ flights and went on to launch many successful routes to Australia. But now in a separate article it seems that some of these are now loss making and it will be trimming them.

    http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/101076/air-asia-x-aims-to-reopen-london-route

    http://www.perthnow.com.au/travel/travel-news/low-cost-carrier-to-cut-aussie-flights-after-big-quarterly-loss/story-fnjjv9zm-1227129784358?nk=5f741e74ea089e8f450bd6b19de810d8


    AMcWhirter
    Participant

    Airbus is currently taking its A350 around SE Asia so maybe the boss’ comments are timed accordingly.

    AirAsiaX says it will configure its A350s (which will not be delivered for some time to come) 10-across in Y.

    An attractive prospect?


    MartinJ
    Participant

    Ten across is never an attractive prospect. To me the real value of LCCs lies in their fare structure, allowing one-ways at a decent Price and circumventing minimum stay requirements and other nonsense. Average return fares were not too different between Malaysian and AirAsia on the LON-KUL run but one-ways on Malaysian and other legacy carriers do cost an arm and a leg.


    batterytraveller
    Participant

    There’s probably some traffic to be gained from the slow collapse of Malaysian Airlines. Still a tough ask, how much of a fare discount is 10 across on an A350 worth anyway?

    Still, it represents more competition between Australia and Europe, which may work out well for me.


    DontTurnRight
    Participant

    Interesting too that BA returns to KL soon!


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    Do economy leisure or travellers research 9 or 10 across before they fly? I am presuming the price outweighs space…


    FirstClassWannabe
    Participant

    Definitely it does Martyn, for most anyway. These days people just want the cheapest price. Look at the success of the so called low cost airlines. Many times BA or a legacy carrier will be cheaper but most people will just check Easyjet, Ryanair etc. I don’ t think the majority would be aware of 9 or 10 across in any case, but even if they were, they would still go for the cheapest.


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    hence why the airlines are cramming 10 across into the new aircraft…


    PeterCoultas
    Participant

    MartinJ: very much to the point for me – the same problem with mixed class flights as I’d happily pay for J class going east but see no reason to pay for other than Y going west


    AMcWhirter
    Participant

    Does low-cost work long-haul ?

    The question must be asked yet again in the light of AirAsiaX deciding to trim some Australian flights because of losses.

    In one of the articles above, the carrier lost AU$62.8 million between January and September with the Australian routes alone losing AU$36 million.

    Yet the Australian routes were supposed to be ideal for AirAsiaX because they consist of the right sector length.

    When AirAsiaX retreated from Europe, management claimed the “sweet spot” for long-haul operations was “being between four and eight hours.”

    That is one reason why it withdrew from New Zealand soon after axing London Gatwick and Paris Orly.

    Yet now there is talk of returning to London where, as has been noted above, competition has increased substantially over the past few years.

    Interestingly, Airbus is promoting its A350 as a new plane which will offer superior comfort in economy class compared to rival aircraft from Boeing. In part, that is because the A350 is designed for 9-across in economy.

    Airbus has called for an industry standard of 18 ins for economy class, as we reported in October, 2013.

    http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/airbus-calls-for-minimum-seat-width

    But AirAsiaX’s 10-across A350s will go against the trend.

    See flightglobal.com May 2012

    http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/airasia-x-to-re-enter-long-haul-market-with-a350s-372354/


    AMcWhirter
    Participant

    Correction:

    AirAsiaX’s losses were for the period between July and September and not, as I wrote above, for January to September.


    SuhByungDoh
    Participant

    I booked premium class round trip KUL / ICN ON AIR ASIA X prior to them dropping the Gatwick route. I had to change the dates online but found the PREMIUM CLASS to be full on the outbound. I therefore had to accept an economy class seat which I did as there was no other option. After take-off and seatbelt lights were on I took a walk up front to find there was an empty seat in Premium. I asked the crew if I could relocate to premium and showed them my booking / check-in paperwork. There was a 20 minute conference and they returned with a negative answer. When asked why they told me that it was because of their rule that any change would require another payment of the fare difference between economy and premium class. I pointed out again that I had already paid for a Premium Class seat and they then asked the Captain who confirmed ” No Payment – No Seat “. They must have been desperate for cash flow then so I vowed never to fly with them again and I won’t !


    WillieWelsh
    Participant

    Malaysia Airlines are reporting strong loads on the LHR-KUL service, BA are about to enter the market probably with one of their tired 772s. If Air Asia make a come back too who will be the loser?

    My bet would be on BA, caught between the MH A380 offering and the Air Asia low cost option.

    I predict the BA KUL service will have a short life.


    K1ngston
    Participant

    The trouble is with Air Asia is that whilst their short haul service is basically very good, their Asia X long haul product is simply awful, and having had to fly GCH KUL I will never ever ever do so again and that was 8 hours ….. I know you have to expect little and be surprised, so simply put my expectations were so low as to not even register and then to be even more disappointed after the event means I would rather just not travel than have to experience them again….

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