Malaysia (Commonwealth Union)_ AirAsia X Group (AAX) will increase the number of medium-haul Malaysia AirAsia X (D7) flights to 44 per week on 10 routes, while Thai AirAsia X (XJ) will increase its operations to 22 flights per week on five routes over the next 2 months. AAX has recently started direct operations to South Korea’s Seoul-Incheon and India’s New Delhi from Kuala Lumpur and restarted operations to Australia’s Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth; New Zealand’s Auckland; and Japan’s Tokyo-Haneda and Sapporo-Chitose.
In the latest statement, the company also revealed additional flights to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, and Taipei in Taiwan, beginning in November. In the meantime, Thai AirAsia X has commenced operations from Bangkok to Osaka and Tokyo-Narita in Japan and Seoul-Incheon in South Korea and is planning to introduce new direct flights to Melbourne and Sydney in Australia and Sapporo-Chitose in Japan in early December.
AAX stated that all furloughed pilots and laid-off cabin personnel will be able to return to work by December of this year. It added that since the pandemic, AAX has reactivated 175 pilots and 285 cabin staff, including 131 cabin crew who were laid off during the pandemic. According to Benyamin Ismail, the chief executive officer of Malaysia AAX, the airline now runs four widebody A330 aircraft and anticipates running up to thirteen aircraft by the first quarter of 2023 to fulfill the increased and rising demand for medium-haul flights.
Ismail said: “In December, we will not only be adding more destinations but also increasing our flight frequencies on popular routes such as moving to daily services between Kuala Lumpur and Seoul (Incheon) to fly a total of 53 flights weekly.” He added that the medium-haul air travel is resuming at a rapid rate and that the company plans to utilize this opportunity to boost sustainable growth for AAX, thereby providing consumers with greater value and choice.
