Air Asia X confirms London to Kuala Lumpur service

Air Asia X confirmed this week that it will be launching a new route connecting London with Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia.

The Malaysian budget airline has indicated that London’s Stansted Airport was its preference for a base in the UK, and that the tentative date for the launch of the service is March of 2009.

The airline had said earlier that it was hoping to begin the service in December of this year, but has been forced to postpone the launch as it is still trying to secure a leased plane for the route.

Air Asia X now operates with just one leased aircraft, an A330-300, which it flies to Australia’s Gold Coast and to Hangzhou, China. The carrier has 25 planes on order.

Further long-haul expansion – to Melbourne and Perth - is planned alongside the proposed service from London to Kuala Lumpur connection.

The airline’s director, Tony Fernande, in commenting on the possibility of making Kuala Lumpur into an Asian hub for UK travellers, noted that Air Asia X was already making a care for the fact that “low-cost long-haul can work.”

“From Stansted there would be people who will fly to Malaysia and from Malaysia to anywhere else in south-east Asia or Australia,” he explained.

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