A long time ago, Tony FernandesTony Fernandes, CEO of the AirAsia group, dreams of offering passengers the possibility of flying on an AirAsia product from end to end, from America, Europe and of course Asia. With the opening of a new route to Hawaii from Kuala Lumpur - with a stopover in Japan - for the long-haul subsidiary AirAsia X, Tony Fernandes was beginning to see his dream become a reality. All that remained was a return to Europe. AirAsia X had already tried the experiment between 2010 and the beginning of 2012 with two regular flights from Kuala Lumpur to London Gatwick and Paris Orly. But the rise in oil prices and intense competition from the Gulf carriers had taken their toll on these two routes.
At the end of last year, the CEO of AirAsia announced his intention to back to Europe for 2017This was a new situation, and in particular the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines' European network, with the exception of London. At the time, Tony Fernandes said he wanted to return to London and possibly land in Istanbul or even Moscow, with the possibility of continuing his flight to North America. " I'm looking for ideal destinations in Europe which would open up new markets and link them to both Asia and America".he said as an aside during the World Travel & Tourism Forum in Bangkok at the end of April.
The dream ends with a tweet
And then a tweet in the middle of Paris Air Show put an end to AirAsia's European dreams on Tuesday. Tony Fernandes announced " give up for the moment "to land in Europe. " The AirAsia X model is working well, particularly with the Air Asia correspondence product. We have therefore decided that ultra-long-haul low-cost was not worth the effort. I don't feel seduced by Price war in London. Let the 'friends' of the traditional airlines fight it out over Europe. Many of them are [financially] broke. We'll be stuck with flight times of eight to nine hours. "tweeted the CEO...
Nevertheless, the AirAsia orders Airbus A350 X could change the game, as happened recently with Malaysia Airlines, a customer for this aircraft. The Malaysian national airline, which competes with AirAsia, has just announced that its first Airbus A350s will be serving the Kuala Lumpur-London route from the start of 2018, with two flights a day. He added that other aircraft would also be put into service on another European destination. Malaysia Airlines, which closed its continental European network between 2015 and 2016 (Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Istanbul and Paris), should return to one of these destinations. In the running for the new route would be Amsterdam and Paris...
