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Malaysia's AirAsia expands ops to Australia, AAX to C Asia

AirAsia (AK, Kuala Lumpur International) will start flights to Australia on March 11, 2024, operating daily roundtrips between Kuala Lumpur and Perth International. The flights will complement AirAsia X (D7, Kuala Lumpur International) and Thai AirAsia X (XJ, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi) services to and from the country.

"Perth has consistently been one of AirAsia’s most popular destinations," said AirAsia CEO Riad Asmat. "From January 1 to October 30, 2023, approximately 30,000 guests flew from Malaysia to Perth [on AirAsia X]. Based on increasing demand, we believe now is the right time to expand our network into this new market in West Australia. We also anticipate introducing more routes in the region in the near future."

ch-aviation schedules data reveals AirAsia will operate the daily flights using A321-200NX aircraft. The 236-passenger single-class aircraft will take five hours and forty minutes to complete each sector and join Jetstar Airways (JQ, Melbourne Tullamarine) as the only operator of the A321N type into Perth.

Sibling carrier AirAsia X already...

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AirAsia leases three former MYAirline A320-200s

AirAsia (AK, Kuala Lumpur International) has leased three A320-200s formerly placed at the now insolvent MYAirline (MYM, Kuala Lumpur Subang). Bo Lingam, chief executive of AirAsia Aviation Group, confirmed the transfer earlier this week while speaking to Malaysia's New Strait Times. AirAsia had formerly expressed interest in picking up any returning aircraft from MYAirline.

AirAsia signed the deal to take the aircraft about a week ago and has paid the necessary deposits, Lingam said, adding that the lessor is Aircastle. ch-aviation research has identified the A320s as 9M-DAB (msn 4126), 9M-DAF (msn 4070), and 9M-DAG (msn 4088). Presently, all three are stored at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

ch-aviation has contacted AirAsia for delivery timeline details.

When MYAirline ceased operations in mid-October, it had nine A320-200s in Kuala Lumpur. Of that number, the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia has since received deregistration requests for several aircraft, namely:

• 9M-DAC (msn 5661) leased from Aviation Capital Group, now re-registered as VP-CBF and ferried to Woensdrecht last week;...

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