AirAsia X (D7, Kuala Lumpur International) is set to announce the relocation of its Melbourne service from the main gateway at Melbourne Tullamarine to Melbourne Avalon airport in late 2018, Sydney Morning Herald has reported. If confirmed, the route would become the first international service out of the latter airport.
A formal announcement of the relocation is expected within a few days.
According to the newspaper, a new international terminal will be built at Avalon airport to facilitate the new route. The government of the state of Victoria, as well as the federal authorities, are understood to be prepared to participate in the investment. The airport situated between the cities of Melbourne and Geelong is privately owned by Linfox, a logistics company.
AirAsia X currently flies to Melbourne from its main base at Kuala Lumpur International 14x weekly using A330-300 equipment. The route is also operated 14x weekly by Malaysia Airlines.
Avalon airport currently sees limited and exclusively domestic scheduled passenger traffic with Jetstar Airways (JQ, Melbourne Tullamarine) as the sole airline. According to the ch-aviation capacity module, the low-cost subsidiary of Qantas operates a total of 49 weekly departures out of Avalon to Sydney Kingsford Smith, Gold Coast Coolangatta, Adelaide International, and Hobart International. The airport also hosts Qantas' maintenance base.
