Datuk Kamaruddin Meranun, the Group CEO of AirAsia X (D7, Kuala Lumpur International), outlined the longhaul budget operation's short-term expansion plans when he announced its 1Q/2015 financial results last week.
Of its subsidiaries, Meranun said Indonesia AirAsia X (IDX, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) has, based on the success of its flights from Denpasar to Melbourne Tullamarine and Taipei Taoyuan, opened negotiations with the relevant authorities to open up flights to Jeddah International in Saudi Arabia and Sydney Kingsford Smith in Australia. No launch dates or schedules have yet been confirmed.
Concerning its Thai subsidiary, the CEO said Thai AirAsia X (XJ, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi) is looking at opening up routes to China and Tehran Imam Khomeini in Iran. AirAsia X served the Iranian capital from Kuala Lumpur International for a brief 5 month period in 2012 ending it for what it termed "economic reasons", including the volatility of Iran's currency, the Rial.
In light of Thailand's ongoing troubles with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and other regional civil aviation authorities over the state of its regulatory oversight, Meranun said Thai AirAsia X would continue to operate using Malaysia AirAsia X (“MAAX”) aircraft and flight numbers on its recently inaugurated flights to Sapporo Chitose, Japan until such time they are granted the necessary approvals from the Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLITT). AirAsia X A330-300 9M-XXM (msn 741) is currently based at Bangkok's Don Mueang airport and operating the daily rotation to Sapporo.
"Operations to Osaka Kansai, Tokyo Narita and Seoul Incheon (South Korea) remain unaffected however there will not be any expansion for Japan and Korea for the time being," he said in a statement.
