AirAsia X to launch new Middle East hub

AirAsia X's chief executive officer Azran Osman-Rani said a location had already been chosen in a Gulf state but that it would not be disclosed for several weeks.

“This will open up completely new markets, and we won't always have to have the planes based in Kuala Lumpur, which limits us to an eight-hour radius,” Azran told reporters.

“There will be many in the aviation industry who think this is crazy because the traditional low-cost model is to do only point-to-point flights... to keep it simple,” he said.

Azran said, however, that while there would be “some additional cost”, AirAsia X would not need to create new infrastructure and would instead hire existing services for cargo, catering and maintenance.

Initially, the carrier will operate flights from Kuala Lumpur to the Middle East hub, before branching out next year by using it to jump to destinations that could include Morocco, Turkey, Spain or the Czech Republic.

Azran said the plan was also triggered by potential problems accommodating new aircraft, amid doubts that Malaysia's airports authority will complete a new low-cost carrier terminal in Kuala Lumpur by 2011 as scheduled.

“It will relieve the pressure of having all our planes in Kuala Lumpur, especially if the new airport is not finished and we do not have enough parking bays,” he said.

AirAsia X now flies to seven destinations, with two more planned by the end of 2009. It operates five planes, a combination of Airbus A330s and A340s, with three more medium-range A330s due for delivery this year, three in 2010 and six in 2011.

Azran said this week that AirAsia X has been denied permission by the Malaysian government to fly into Sydney and Seoul, due to a row over its sister carrier AirAsia.

But he said Wednesday that it would instead boost flight frequency to the Gold Coast in Australia, Hanzhou in China, and the Taiwanese capital Taipei.

An affiliate of regional low-cost carrier AirAsia and Virgin Group, AirAsia X was launched in January 2007. AirAsia and AirAsia X have common shareholders, including AirAsia founder and CEO Tony Fernandes.

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