Air Asia Goes to London

Well travelers, it's nice to be back in the blog seat!

This weeks big news is the successful first flight by low cost carrier Air Asia X from Kuala Lumpur to London.

May I congratulate the Air Asia team on achieving this impressive milestone.

Australian travelers in particular should be very excited with the opportunity to travel on the cheap to Europe.

Travelers in south-east Asia are fortunate to have several quality airlines linking them to Europe, and the addition of Air Asia X to this line up opens up long haul travel to more and more people.

I really hope that Air Asia can make this route profitable.

My previous post on Oasis Hong Kong Airways shows just how difficult it can be to successfully operate long haul flights on a low cost carrier structure.

I'll be honest and say that, as a large Aussie guy, when I do get the chance to fly Air Asia to London, I'll certainly go for the XL seats to give me a bit more room for the long flight.

Having flown Tiger and Jetstar around Asia, I can get away with the economy seats on the short haul flights, but the extra room will be a necessity! Unless I can work off those few extra kilograms at the gym!

For around the cost of a full service economy seat, the XL seats seem to be excellent value for money, especially the seats that are currently on the A340 plane used on the KL to London route. I understand these are ex-Air Canada planes and the XL seats are full "bed" like seats! Check out the answer to my query on this here.

One of the reasons Air Asia has been able to keep costs down is through the use of Stansted Airport as the gateway to London.

Stansted is the 3rd busiest Airport in the UK and is located 48km north-east of central London. Stansted is connected to central London via an express train that takes passengers to central London in around 45 minutes, operating at 15 minute intervals. The ticket prices are around 46 pounds sterling, or AUS$98 for a return ticket, which is not cheap!

Connection to central London should certainly be considered when looking at the total point-to-point cost of getting from KL to London.

Well I for one hope that Air Asia X can keep this route going and eventually expand into continental Europe and North America. Then we can really see if the low cost carrier model can work on long haul.

Thanks again budget travelers for taking the time to read my thoughts. Feel free to add your comments, I appreciate your feedback and insights.

Till next time.

Travel Budget, Travel Well.

TheBudgetTravelGuy