AirAsia X gears up for London launch

20 November, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian low-cost carrier AirAsia X is due to announce the launch of flights from London Stansted to Kuala Lumpur next week.

The airline has called a press conference in London County Hall on November 25, claiming it will be announcing “massive news for London”.

It is believed the services from Stansted will launch early next year, with fares from around £350 return.

Air Asia X, part-owned by Sir Richard Branson, is a subsidiary of Air Asia, the region’s biggest low-cost airline.

CEO Tony Fernandes is flying to London for the launch.

By Bev Fearis

Travel Mole

A million visitors from China

2008/11/20

SHANGHAI: Malaysia's aggressive promotion in China is pushing tourist arrivals from the country closer to the one million target. The number of Chinese nationals visiting Malaysia between January and last month had already surpassed that for last year, Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Abdul Taib said yesterday.

"As of last month, we have received more than 800,000 visitors. An average of 70,000 come in every month." -- Bernama

Malaysia tops leisure travel list

2008/11/20

SHANGHAI: Malaysia garnered another industry accolade when it was voted the best leisure short-haul destination by the Travel Weekly publication. The award was received by Tourism Malaysia's international marketing director for Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia Chong Yoke Har at a dinner ceremony here on Tuesday before China's biggest industry show, the China International Travel Mart, opens here today.

Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong were the three shortlisted for the leisure short-haul market accolade, one of 47 awards presented by the magazine. A total of 600,000 votes were received for the awards. -- Bernama

Tony Says "No" To AirAsia Being A Full-fledged Cargo Operator

November 19, 2008 22:54 PM

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 19 (Bernama) -- AirAsia Bhd is not considering being a full-fledged cargo operator, though the carrier has an extensive network, said its chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes.

"I leave that to MASkargo and Transmile. We have a lot of cargo space and certainly we will utilise it more," said Tony to reporters after a briefing on Tune Money Sdn Bhd today.

"We have a lot of initiatives that we are working on. We are looking at express cargo and online shopping to ship goods to people," he added.

Tony said AirAsia had an "amazing network" such as eight flights daily to Bangkok, whereby the company could utilise this to tap a hand carried courier business.

"We have helped a lot of cargo operators because if they want to send goods to Bandung, we will do it. We will be a good forward shipper to big cargo lines.

"But as a full-fledged cargo operator, no," he stated.

In the meantime, AirAsia, which has carried 60 million people to date, has plans to fly to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in the near future.

"We are working on it and will make an announcement in due course," said Tony.

-- BERNAMA

AirAsia May Fly To Uzbekistan, Says Abdullah

November 18, 2008 12:03 PM

From Jamaluddin Muhammad

TASHKENT (Uzbekistan), Nov 18 (Bernama) -- Low-cost carrier, AirAsia may fly to Uzbekistan in a move to establish air links between the two countries.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he had informed the AirAsia group chief executive officer Tony Fernandes on the matter and the latter had agreed to study it as soon as possible.

"Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov wanted us to establish air linkages and I think AirAsia could play that role as it is a low-cost carrier," Abdullah who is on a third-day of the four days official visit to this country told Malaysian journalist, here.

At the moment, Uzbekistan Airways flies twice a week to Malaysia and vice-versa while Malaysian Airlines cooperated with the airline through code-sharing basis.

On the lack of implementation of Memoranda of Understandings (MOUs) signed in the past, Abdullah believed the business climate in this country would improve as the country further liberalise its economy.

The MOUs include cooperations in the fields of air services, security and counter-terrorism, trade, tourism, mineral resources, information and communication technology.

Uzbekistan, the landlocked country located in Central Asia, gained independence in 1991 after breaking up from the Soviet Union.

Admitting it was quite difficult to deal import-export with landlocked country, Abdullah said both countries managed to increase their bilateral trade to US$40 million last year compared to US$12 million in 2006.

Malaysia's main export are vegetable oil, palm oil, electrical and electronic equipment, furniture, rubber products, printed material and leather produts while Uzbekistan's main export include cotton and air services.

Abdullah said although the trade figure increase significantly, the figure was still considered as small due to vast potentials of business opportunities both countries could offer.

For example, he said, Uzbekistan President was willing to offer more oil and gas concessions to Malaysian national oil company, Petronas, as it had shown tremendous capability in carry out its activities in the country.

Petronas has invested US$90 million thus far for exploration and oil and gas projects in four regions - Baisun, Aral Sea, Surkhanski and Urga.

Petronas investment in Uzbekisan in the next three years is estimated to be around US$150 million to US$200 million.

Abdullah said Petronas has also carried out its social responsibility project in this country by offering several scholarships to Uzbeks to study in oil and gas industry at the Universiti Teknologi Petronas in Malaysia.

Tourism he said was another potential areas for joint cooperation between the two countries as Uzbekistan could offer Islamic tourism package especially to visit Samarkand, city where Islamic civilisation began.

Source: BERNAMA