Northstar

The Indispensable Travel Industry Read Feature Highlight Bangkok looks ahead to a better year Vol. 3 Issue 03 | 17 January 2012 | www.travelweeklyweb.com | Published by Travel & Meetings Group, Ten Alps Communications Asia Pte Ltd News "Hello Taiwan" News Page 6 Air Asia cuts long haul fl ights. Sleek , luxurious Silver Whisper Air Asia X withdraws services to India and Europe AirAsia X, the long haul, low fare affiliate of AirAsia, will withdraw its services to India and Europe, as higher operating costs, weakening demand and visa restrictions make the routes unprofi table. The move will see AirAsia X withdrawing services to Mumbai and Delhi, Paris, London from its Kuala Lumpur hub as follows: • Mumbai – Four weekly services will be suspended with the last fl ight on 31 January, 2012 • New Delhi – Daily services will be suspended with the last flight on 22 March, 2012. Flights in March will be reduced to four weekly services. • London– Six weekly services wi ll be suspended with the last fl ight on 31 March, 2012 •Paris – Four weekly ser vices wi l l be suspended with the last fl ight on 30 March, 2012 AirAsia X will offer its passengers who hold bookings after these dates an alternative travel option at no additional cost to mitigate the inconvenience caused. They will also have other options like a full refund, a reroute to another AirAsia X destination in Australia or North Asia, or a move to an alternative carrier where available. In a press statement ,the airline said it started fl ights to London in March 2009, when oil prices were less than US$40 per barrel. It has since tripled. The Arab Spring unrest of 2011, and the Iranian oil embargo this year has "crippled the economics of long-haul flights," as fuel charges account for more than 50 per cent of operating costs. Passenger traffic from Europe has fallen due to a weak economy. It has also been burdened with an increase in UK Air Passenger Duty which will rise to £92 per departing economy passenger and £184 per departing Premium passenger from 1 April 2012. Since January 1, the European governments have also imposed an additional carbon tax under their Emissions Trading Scheme. Though AirAsia X recorded load factors of over 80 per cent for its London and Paris fl ights in 2011, its attempts to increase fares to refl ect the higher operating cost recently resulted in demand falling. Hence, the combination of factors "made it economically impossible to sustain these fl ights". AirAsia X's flights to Mumbai and Delhi- launched in 2010 – were affected by airport and handling costs which it claims are even more expensive than airports in Australia, and starting April 2012, a 280 per cent increase is due to be Continued on Page 3 Page 8

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