One of the world’s cheapest airlines is promising to slash fares for Kiwis as it announces a return to New Zealand.
Air Asia has confirmed to Stuff Travel that it has ambitious expansion plans, including a return to Auckland via Australia.
Flights would leave Auckland, then cross the Tasman to an airport in Australia, before heading on to Kuala Lumpur. Passengers would then be able to connect to dozens of destinations throughout Asia or to places like Istanbul and London.
The flights will be run by AirAsia X, the airline’s long-haul offshoot, which uses A330 aircraft with 377 seats.
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The airline last launched a route to Auckland in 2016, with $99 fares to the Gold Coast and $249 to Kuala Lumpur.
As travel demand has ramped up following Covid-19 border closures, airfares have skyrocketed, leading to booked-out flights across the Tasman and one-way fares costing as much as $1000 to Sydney.
Air New Zealand, Qantas and Jetstar are the main airlines currently flying across the Tasman – with some services also being run by Qatar and Latam Airlines.
But operators could be about to face more competition, with Air Asia promising to deliver “industry-leading” fares – in other words – the cheapest.
“AirAsia X has one of the lowest cost bases for medium- to long-haul travel, so Kiwis can expect industry-leading, great value fares from AirAsia X when we launch services soon,” said Benyamin Ismail, the airline’s chief executive.
AirAsia X is staying tight-lipped about which airport its Auckland to Australia flights will head to until the official announcement. Its Auckland to Gold Coast leg lasted less than three years, with Benyaminat the time citing stiff trans-Tasman competition as one of the reasons the route was shut in 2019.
However, times have changed, and there is currently less competition on the Tasman after significant border closures over the past two years due to Covid-19.
Air Asia X has recently announced a significant expansion following its Covid-19 grounding, resuming flights to South Korea and New Delhi. It also announced routes to Japan, Hawaii, London, Dubai, Istanbul, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
Air Asia will also offer Kiwis discount fares to other popular Asian destinations such as Thailand, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Japan and South Korea via its Kuala Lumpur hub.
“Kiwis love Asia and now that international borders are reopening in our key markets with fewer travel restrictions, we are confident our services will prove popular,” Benyamin said.
The airline is promising to release the start date and prices for its new route “in the near future”.
Long-haul airlines landing in Australia sometimes add a trans-Tasman leg to their journey. That is because not all of them immediately return – and it is expensive to park a plane at an airport for the day. So instead, it makes more sense to fly the plane on a quick return leg to New Zealand and make money (or at least try to).
AirAsia X has 11 A330-300 aircraft, which it hopes will all be back in the air by October 2022. It is also looking to lease an extra four aircraft, bringing the fleet to 15 by the end of the year.
The airline has a further 15 A330-900 planes on order.
AirAsia X first flew to New Zealand in April 2011, months after Christchurch’s devastating earthquake. Just over a year later, the airline withdrew from the route, citing the increased cost of jet fuel.
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