AirAsia X has announced that it will operate twice weekly services from Kuala Lumpur to Perth and Melbourne, while Indonesia Air Asia will up its services on the Perth-Denpasar route to three times daily.
The additional AirAsia X services to Melbourne will commence from July 1, with Perth to also receive double daily services from August 1. The services will be flown by Airbus A330-300s, which are currently being refitted with new seating in both economy and premium classes.
AirAsia X CEO Azran Osman-Rani said that the new services would cater for high demand. “Loads have been consistently strong year-round on all Australian services and this has given us the confidence to increase our capacity particularly on Melbourne and Perth routes and as we grow our network and expand heavily to India.”
The services reportedly are also linked to the refusal of the Malaysian government to grant AirAsia X rights to serve the Kuala Lumpur-Sydney route, which AirAsia has previously labelled as protecting government controlled Malaysia Airlines. Nevertheless, the company is expected to keep pressing its case to serve Sydney.
AirAsia will also increase its services on the Perth-Denpasar route to three times daily from June 1, which will be operated with A320s. The move comes as Strategic Airlines is preparing to launch three times weekly services on the route from June 12, joining Pacific Blue, Jetstar and Garuda Indonesia’s existing services.
