On Friday, AirAsia celebrated the delivery of their first brand new A321neo. Earlier in the week, the airline inaugurated service to Tokyo-Narita with their first high-speed WiFi equipped Airbus A330.
AirAsia announced Friday that they have received the first of 353 Airbus A321neos on order, presenting the airline with greater capacity and efficiency. As the new aircraft are delivered, they will replace AirAsia’ fleet of A320 and A320neo aircraft throughout their network. AirAsia services Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, India and Japan. Equipped with 236 seats, the new A321neo increases capacity by 27% versus the airline’s existing aircraft that seat between 180-186 passengers. AirAsia will be the first airline in Malaysia to operate the type which promises a 10% fuel burn reduction compared to the aircraft it will replace. Initially, the newly delivered aircraft will operate from AirAsia’s Kuala Lumpur hub serving Asian destinations such as Kuching, Kota, Kinabalu, Singapore, Bangkok and Shenzhen. In Friday’s announcement, AirAsia’s Group CEO, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said,
“We are proud to welcome our first A321neo today as the backbone of our future operations. This new aircraft will be deployed on popular routes delivering growth opportunities to new markets and add capacity in existing markets, particularly where there are expansion constraints due to infrastructure or slot availability limitations. Last year AirAsia flew over 90 million guests and now, with significantly improved operational efficiencies and 50 more seats per aircraft, AirAsia can look forward to flying even more people for less. As our cost is reduced, we can pass on any savings to our guests in the form of even lower airfares.”
On Wednesday, AirAsia announced new service from Kuala Lumpur to Tokyo-Narita. The inaugural flight was operated with an Airbus A330, AirAsia’s first hi-speed WiFi equipped aircraft. The frequency on the route will be four times weekly, delivering 150,000 additional seats annually between Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo-Narita, boosting tourism ahead of Visit Malaysia 2020 and the Tokyo Olympic Games. In Wednesday’s announcement, AirAsia X Malaysia’s CEO, Benyamin Ismail said,
“We are very proud to provide more options for our guests traveling to Tokyo, Japan, with our four weekly return services to Narita International Airport, complementing our existing services to Tokyo Haneda. This new service signifies our commitment to accelerating our growth in Japan and we are confident the route will be popular, especially for guests exploring Tokyo and the neighboring northeast region in Tohoku. We wish to thank our airport, tourism and local government partners as well as the authorities for making this route a reality.”
AirAsia X is the largest low-cost long-haul carrier servicing Japan with nearly 110 weekly flights. The AirAsia Group operates an all Airbus fleet flying out of hubs in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, India and Japan.
Source: AirAsia