Airasia X

[onebir]

They probably won't be flying direct UK-BKK, but they could make quarterly UK visa runs an affordable possibility...

Airasia has plans for a long-haul budget carrier, with the KL low cost terminal as a hub:

CNN report (http://www.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/01/05/bt.airasiax.ap/)

"Online sale of tickets will begin next month for initial service to Tianjin and Hangzhou in China, and to either Manchester or London in the United Kingdom."

Malaysia's daily express report (http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=46602)

"AirAsia X would stick to the business model of tight cost control and offer low fares with one way flight to United Kingdom starting from RM9.99 [=GBP1.40]. "Low fares attract volume," he said, adding that the average ticket price would be at least 50 percent cheaper than the current air ticket prices." "

"Chan said that AirAsia X has been given the right to fly to destinations that Malaysia Airlines (MAS) was not flying into." (Which appears to mean airports as opposed to cities (MAS flies KLIA-LHR, but London is a potential route mentioned above. Fernandez mentioned London Stansted as a potential terminal.)

It seems they're also still after an alliance. See second last para of

Malaysian Star report (http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/1/6/nation/16493788&sec=nation)

" On negotiations with Virgin group's Sir Richard Branson and EasyGroup's Sir Stelios Haji-loannou, Fernandes said it was still on-going, but declined to elaborate. "

(It sounds like this might be more to do with the European end of the operation though - codesharing with Easyjet in particular could make the Uk-KLIA service more accessible to people outside SE England.)

[cdnvic]

Anything that puts downward pressure on airfares is a good thing, providing it doesn't come from flying clapped out museum pieces like some airlines have been doing the past few years.

[londonthai]

2 discussions on the subject already here:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...c=99913&hl=

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...c=99363&hl=