AIRASIA X TAKES OFF FROM KL TO LONDON

By M. Saraswathi

KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 (Bernama) -- AirAsia X finally took off for London,
with 286 passengers on board, after almost a two-year delay.

AirAsia X, which operates the sector, is an affiliate of AirAsia Bhd, the
parent company.

The destination was first announced in January 2007 and was targeted to
begin in June the same year but was deferred to various reasons including
higher leasing cost than.

AirAsia X will fly into Stansted Airport, Britain's third busiest
airport, with 22.8 million passengers passing through and many leading low-cost
airlines making it their base.

Ushering in the celebrations before the newly-acquired Airbus A340-300 took
off at 9am from the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) in Sepang, near here was
AirAsia X Chairman Kalimullah Hassan, chief executive officer Azran Osman-Rani,
Asean secretary-general Dr Surin Pitsuwan and British High Commissioner to
Malaysia Boyd McCleary.

In London, the passengers will be received by the Duke of York, Prince
Andrew, AirAsia Bhd chief executive officer Tony Fernandes, British Airports
Authority (BAA) managing director Steward Wingate and BAA's commercial
and development director Nick Barton.

Among the passengers who bought the lowest fare seats was Jagjit Kaur, 28,
who is flying to London on the inaugural flight with her parents, Laban Singh
and Bhagwan Kaur, and younger brother, Jasmair Singh.

Among others are Sarah Brook, 29, and her fiancé, Simon Mahmood, 28, who are
enroute to London for their wedding.

Tickets for the inaugural London flight were opened for booking in November
last year, with promotional seats priced at RM499/99 Pounds (US$135/US$136)
one-way.

The Kuala Lumpur-London sector received overwhelming response from
travellers in Australia and Europe, AirAsia said in a statement today.

Dubbed as the "Kangaroo Route", AirAsia X provides affordable
connectivity from London to Australian cities of Perth, Melbourne and Gold
Coast with Kuala Lumpur as the hub.
-- BERNAMA